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Collection  of  iBtortfj  Catolmiana 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00032195197 


This  book  must  not 
be  taken  from  the 
Library  building. 


Form  No.  471 


AN 

ADDRESS, 

TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE 

TTWITED   STATES, 

ON  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THE 

PRESIDENTIAIi   EliECTION: 
WITH  A  SPECIAL  REFERENCE  TO  THE  NOMINATION 

CONTAINING  SKETCHES  OF  HIS  PUBLIC  AND 
PRIVATE  CHARACTER. 


BY  A  CITIZEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Courage  may  purchase  Liberty,  but  Wisdom  must  perpetuate  its  duration. 


PRINTED  FOR  THE  PROPRIETOR. 

1828, 


Northern  District  of  New-York,  to  wit. 

SE  IT  REMEMBERED,  That  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  February,  in  the  fiftv- 
«;pcond  vear  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States  of  America  Joseph  Colweil, 
of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in  th^^  office  the  title  of  a  book,  tHi  right  whereof 
he  claims  as  proprietor,  in  the  words  following: 

"An  address  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  on  the  subject  of  the  Presiden- 
tJol  riprtion  with  a  special  reference  to  the  nomination  of  Andrew  Jackson,  con- 
Vain  m^r  sketches  of  his  public  and  private  character.  By  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.    Courage  may  purchase  liberty,  but  wisdom  must  perpetuate  its  duration.'' 

¥n  rnnformitv  to  the  act  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  entitled  "An  act 
Mr  thP  Pncoura<-ement  of  learning  by  securing  the  copies  of  maps  charts  and  books 
^Vh^  authors  and  proprietors  of  such  copies,  during  the  times  therein  mentioned, 

ri^Un  to  an  act;  entitled  'An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  learning,  by  secur- 
'^      thpronies  of  maps,  charts  and  books,  to  the  authors  and  proprietors  of  such 
jng  me  cu^       tj^e  times  therein  mentioned,' and  extending  the  benefits  thereof  to 
*^.®P'%1'.  of  deli-aing,  engraving,  and  etching,  historical  and  other  prints." 
I  ho  aris  V         o      «  RICHARD  R.  LANSING, 

Clerk  of  the  Northern  District  of  New-York 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

In  a  crreat  and  powerful  republic  of  confederatea  states,  it  is  an  ob- 
iect  of  great  political  importance,  that  the  choice  of  then-  chief  magis- 
trate should  be  the  result  of  wisdom,  and  of  a  pure  and  enl^tened 
patriotism.      The  power  necessarily  appertment  to  ^^^^  c)^^\^^^; 
oive  to  him  an  ascendancy  in  the  councils  of  the  cabinet,  which 
Siay  characterize  its  policy  and  direct  the  course  of  its  destmies      It 
will  be  in  vain  for  us  to  calculate  on  the  stability  of  our  government,  or 
the  permanency  of  its  privileges,  where  the  projects  of  intrigue,  cabal 
and  corruption  shall  predominate  in  the  choice  of  that  otticer.      l  tie 
lessons  of  history  have  furnished  us  with  many  demonstrations  ot  this 
truth.     From  them  we  learn,  that  whatever  of  wisdom  there  may  have 
been  in  the  constitutional  provisions  for  the  appointment  ot  their  chiet 
magistrates  among  the  most  celebrated  republics  of  antiquity,  the  ad- 
vantages they  might  have  derived  therefrom,  were  never  long  re  amed 
or  enfoyed.     Their  misfortunes,  and  finally  their  rmn  may  be  traced 
to  the  convulsions  and  revolutions  occasioned  by  a  few  corrupt,  ambi^ 
tious  and  desperate  individuals,  combining  their  efforts  for  the  avowed 
purpose  of  elevating  or  reposing  those,  who  at  different  periods  and  in 
different  forms,  swaved  the  chief  executive  power.     Although  Amer-. 
icans  may  boast  of 'their  great  acquisitions  in  the  science  otselt  gov- 
ernment, they  cannot,  with  confidence,  indulge  the  belief,  that  theirs  is 
the  native  soil  where  political  virtue  is  destined  to  perpetuate  the  bles- 
sings of  its  existence.      The  history  of  our  republic  thus  far  has  taught 
us  that  we  shall  have  to  maintain  a  perpetual  vigilance  to  counteract 
the  desicrns  of  unprincipled  ambition.     We  have  our  Catalmes  and 
<>ur  Neros  in  embryo,  from  whose  nefai'ious  designs  nothing  can  save 
us  but  the  majesty  of  the  laws  and  the  virtue  of  the  people.     Unless 
the  condition  of  the  civil  state,  as  well  as  the  tendency  of  the  human 
disposition  are  changed,  we  may  expect  there  will  for  ever  be  a  con- 
test  respecting  the  political  cl^aracter  of  the  president  and  ot  his  aa- 
minisU-ation.     Motives  for  such  contests  will  not  be  wanting  so  long- 
as  men  are  ambitious,  vindictive,  and  rapacious.     However  wise  and 
impartial  may  have  been  the  distribution  of  offices  at  the  disposal  ot 
the  president,  though  he  should  pursue  measures  whicb  the  best  mter- 
est  of  the  country  seem  to  demand,  and  in  every  part  of  his  adminis- 
tration, display  the  character  of  an  enlightened,  wise  and  independent 
magistrate;   we  are  not  to  expect  the  dispositions  of  aspirmg  and  un- 
principled ambition,  will  thereby  be  transformed  into  those  ot  wisdom, 
and  virtue  and  moderation.  ,         .    •         u  . 

Political  wisdom,  integrity  and  distinguished  patriotism,  have  not 
always  been  duly  appreciated  in  the  councils  of  our  cabinet.     It  may 
^  be  well  to  call  to  our  recoUection  one  attestation  of  this  truth,^contamed 
1.  in  a  letter  written  by  president  Washington  to  Mr.  Jeffefsorv/dur^ingthe 


third  year  of  the  second  term  of  his  presidency,  of  which  the  following 
is  an  extract. 

^•Until  the  last  year  or  two.  I  had  no  conception  that  parties  would, 
or  ever  could  go  the  lengths  J  have  been  witness  to.  Nor  did  I  be- 
lieve, until  lately,  that  it  was  within  the  bounds  of  probability,  hardly 
within  those  of  possibility,  that  while  I  was  using  ray  utmost  exertions, 
to  establish  a  national  character  of  our  own,  independent,  as  far  as 
our  obligations  would  admit,  of  every  other  nation  of  the  earth;  and 
wished,  by  steering  a  steady  course  to  preserve  this  country  from  the 
horrors  of  a  desolating  war,  1  should  be  accused  of  being  the  enemy 
of  one  nation,  and  subject  to  the  will  of  another.  And  to  prove  it, 
that  every  act  of  my  uc! ministration  would  be*t©itured,  and  the  gross- 
est and  most  insidious  misrepresentations  of  them  be  made  by  giving 
one  side  only  of  a  subject,  and  thut  in  such  exaggerated  terms,  as 
could  scarcely  be  applied  to  a  Nero,  to  a  defaulter,  or  to  a  common 
pick-pocket." 

Here  we  have  the  testimony  of  as  perfect  a  man  as  any  of  which  the 
world  could  ever  boast,  respecting  the  opposition  to  his  administra- 
tion, and  that  too  in  the  very  infancy  of  our  republic.     When  therefore 
an  opposition  is  excited   against  the  president,  for  reasons  which  are 
not  generally  understood,  and  for  pretended  evils,  the  existence  or 
the  approach  of  which  the   people  neither   feel  nor  apprehend,  it  is  a 
duty  which  they  owe  to  themselves,  and  to  the  honour  and  interest  of 
their  country,  to  investigate  the  causes  of  this  opposition,  and  the  ob- 
ject  of  those  by  whom  it  is  assailed.     It  may  ever  be  expected,  there 
will  be  more  than  one  candidate  for  the  first  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
people;  and  the  transcendant  honors  and  privileges  which  appertain  to 
it.  will  excite  an   interest  which  the  people  cannot  but  feel;  and  may 
t^timulate  to  efforts  which  they  should  not  encourage.     In  the  compli- 
cated concerns  of  our  extensive  and  powerful  republic  of  confederated 
j-tates,the  operations  of  government  require  a  great  number  of  officers, 
who  must  depend  on  the  patronage  of  the  president  for  the  acquisition 
and  the  tenure  of  their  offices;  these  must  be  selected  from  the  people, 
and  it  is  very  obvious  that  by  ^u-  the  greater  number  of  applicants  for 
places  in  the  various  departments,  must  be   disappointed.     Defeated 
expectations,  in  numerous  instances,  will  generate  disaffection  to  the 
administration;  and  opposition  to  it,  and  especially  to  the  chief  magis- 
trate, v.j,ho  is  supposed  to  have  the  most  efficient  agency  in  defeating 
their  hopes,  is  one  in  the  usual  course  of  political  events,  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  human  disposition..    In  every  district  of  our  coun- 
try, disappointed  expectants  of  presidential  patronage  are  to  be  found, 
"who  will  exert  themselves  to  excite  disaffection  and  enlist  the  unsus- 
pecting freemen  under  the  banners  of  opposition;  and  actuated  as  they 
arc  by  ambitious,  vindictive  and  rapacious  dispositions,  it  may  be  ex- 
pected they  will  exert  all  their  faculties  to  mislead  the  people,  and  cn- 
garje  thf  m  in  their  \  lews  of  personal  preferment. 

It  is  therefore  from  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  those  who  aic  not 
expectants  of  office,  who  are  not  corrupted  with  the  contaminating  in- 
flwenrc  of  power,  nor  duped  by  the  insidious  arts  of  intrigue,  and  the ''^ 
impostors  of  pretended  patriotism,  that  we  may  expect  a  correct  an(H- 


dlgnhied  decision  ot*  the  important  question,  relative  to  the  approacli- 
ing  election  of  a  chief  magistrate.  Possessing  equal  means  of  infor- 
mation, and  no  interest  in  the  event,  but  that  which  is  common  to  their 
country,  they  would  be  well  agreed,  that  to  be  properly  qualified  for 
that  hio-h  office,  the  candidate  should  have  a  correct  and  extensive 
knowledge  of  the  history  of  our  political  state;  and  that  to  enable  him 
to  regulate  our  intercourse  with  foreign  nations,  he  should  be  conver- 
sant with  the  nature  and  policy  of  their  governments,  and  the  princi- 
ples and  complicated  systems  by  which  the  course  of  their  administra- 
tion is  directed ;  also  with  the  general  laws  and  maxims,  which  should 
govern  the  conduct  of.  independent  Rations  toward  each  other ;  that 
his  discussions  of  national  subjects  should  be  distinguished  for  sci- 
ence, Yor  candor  and  tirm.ness.  In  short,  that  his  experience  in  the 
concerns  of  civil  government,  and  hia  capacity  should  be  such,  as  to 
enable  him  to  discern  the  great  objects  which  relate  to  the  interest 
of  his  country  ;  and  that  he  should  evince  a  disposition  steadfastly  to 
pursue  it,  unawed  and  undisturbed,  by  the  discordant  and  importunate 
clamors,  and  insidious  pretences  of  disappointed  expectants,  and  that 
a  pure  and  dignified  deportment  should  mai'k  his  habits  and  manners. 

These  quahfications,  it  is  believed,  are  permai.ently  exemplified  in 
the  character  of  Mr.  Adams,  the  present  chief  magistrate.  Through 
all  the  fluctuations  of  public  opinion,  and  changes  in  the  administra- 
tion, occasioned  by  party  dissensions  or  other  causes,  Mr.  Adams  has 
possessed  the  uninterrupted  confidence  of  the  public,  and  pursued 
.an  undeviating  and  dignified  co'irse,  in  discharging  the  duties  of  sev- 
eral highly  responsible  offices,  both  in  our  own  and  foreign  countries. 
At  an  early  period  of  his  life,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Wash- 
ington, in  1794.  minister  to  the  Hagu  ;  in  1796,  minister  to  Lisbon. 
Before  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  that  office,  he  was,  upon  the  strong 
and  decided  recommendation  of  President  Washington,  transferred  by 
President  Adams,  to  the  court  *of  Berlin,  where  he  remained  until  1801. 
When  he  returned  to  his  own  country  in  1802,  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  senate  of  Massachusetts.  In  1803,  he  was  el«cted  a  sena- 
tor in  Congress,  which  office  he  resigned  in  1808.  In  1809  he  was 
nominated  by  President  Jefferson,  minister  to  Russia,  but  the  senate 
decided  that  the  mission  at  that  time  was  inexpedient.  .In  1811,  he 
was  nominated  by  President  Madison,  for  the  same  mission,  and  the 
senate  confirmed  the  appointment.  In  the  same  year,  after  he  left  the 
coimtry,  he  was  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  but  did  not  accept  the  appointment,  and  Judge  Story  was 
appointed.  In  1813  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
negotiate  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  which  was  afterwards 
concluded  at  Ghent,  in  conjunction  vvith  JMessrs.  Gallatin,  Bayard, 
Clay,  and  Russel.  In  1815,  he  negotiated  a  treaty  of  commerce  with 
Great  Britain,  in  conjunction  with  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Clay,  and  was 
continued  minister  to  that  court  until  1817,  when  he  was  appointed  by 
President  IMonroe,  Secretary  of  State,  which  last  office  he  held  until 
he  was  appointed  to  the  office  of  Chief  Magistrate. 

The  ability  and  fidelity  with  which  he  discharged  the  arduous  du- 
ties of  these  several  offices-,  has  furnished  the  most  ample  attestations 


& 


^n 


of  his  merit,  and  that  he  has  well  deserved  the  confidence  which  has 
elevated  him  to  the  summit  of  his  country's  honors. 

It  is  well  known  that  immediately  after  the  elevation  of  Mr.  Adams 
to  the  Presidency,  a  party  was  organized  in  Congress,  for  the  obvious 
pur}X)se  of  uniting  their  efforts  to  alienate  the  confidence  of  the  peo- 
ple from  him,  and  his  administration,  and  thereby  defeating  his  re-elec- 
tion, and  of  promoting  to  that  ofhce  some  oiher  candidate  more  agree- 
able to  their  views  and  interests.  The  people,  therefore,  should  under- 
stand the  object  of  those  whose  efforts  are  thus  directed  against  him ; 
and  A'ho  have  evinced  a  disposition  to  place  in  that  office,  Gen.  An- 
drew Jackson.  Although  others  have  been  nominated,  and  may  liere- 
after  be  proposed  as  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  it  is  believed  that 
the  nomination  of  Ge«.  Jackson,  has  enstamped  on  the  opposers  of 
Mr.  Adams,  a  character  not  ominous  of  good,  nor  honorable  to  tlie 
republic.  The  author  of  this  pi  per  would  make  no  comments  on  tlie 
qualifications  of  other  candidates  than  Gen.  Jackson. 

It  is  acknowledged  that  there  are  many  others  who  might  fill  that 
office,  with  the  approbation  of  the  people,  and  honor  to  themselves. 
But  when  the  opposers  of  Mr.  Adams  discovered  among  their  num- 
ber, those  who  were  making  efforts,  with  too  much  prospect  of  suc- 
cess, for  a  m  n  like  Gen.  Jackson,  it  was  hazarding  too  much,  to 
contribute  any  thing  which  might  tend  to  facilitate  the  election  of  a 
man  both  dangerous  to  our  liberties,  and  dishonorable  to  the  charac- 
ter of  our  country. 

Since  th^  man  \\ ho  v.as  not  extensively  known  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  until  the  eighth  of  January,  1815,  has  consented  to  be 
considered  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  he  will  doubt- 
less expect  that  some  prominent  traits  of  his  character,  and  incidents 
of  his  hfe,  will  be  exhibited  to  pubhc  view  ;  that  the  people,  whose 
political  interest  and  national  character  is, to  be  affected  by  the  admin- 
istration, may  be  'enabled  to  duly  appreciate  the  quahfications^  of  the 
man,  who  would  be  placed  at  the  head  of  it. 

It  appears  from  the  biography  of  Gen.  Jackson,  that  in  early  life  he 
commenced  the  practice  of  law  in  the  state  of  Tennessee,  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  convention,  and  contributed  a  share  in  the  formation 
of  the  constitution  of  that  state ;  was  afterwards  elected  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  from  thence  transferred  to  the  senate  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  ;  afterwards  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
law  and  equity,  and  after  giving  up  this  last  office,  that  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  military  art,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  Major  General  of 
the  militia. 

In  these  several  stations,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  acquitted  himself 
with  more  ability  or  celebrity  than  hundreds  of  others,  who,  in  their 
respective  states,  have  passed  through  the  same  grades  of  office,  with 
honor  to  themselves,  as  it  is  said  he  did ;  no  extraordinaiy  trait  had 
thus  far  so  distinguished  him,  as  to  give  him  a  claim  to  the  first  office 
in  the  gift  of  the  people.  He  first  became  conspicuous  throughout 
the  Union  by  his  military  achievements  in  our  last  war  with  Great  Brit- 
ain. In  this  war  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  brave  man.  In  his 
military  con' ■'ft.  |u>  pvinrod  a  capacity,  and  a  disposition  to  engage 


L  r  J 

in  those  arduous  and  desperate  enterprizes  which  aie  otien  necessary 
to  the  safety  and  independence  of  a  government.  In  that  war  he  ac- 
quired the  fame  that  is  due  to  the  HerO;  and  which  often  confers  upon 

him  durable  glory.  ,     ,.  i 

But  the  military  achievements  of  any  man,  however  splendid  may 
have  been  the  efforts  which  have*inarked  their  cause,  should  never  give 
to  their  author,   any  claim  to  the  first  office  among  the  civil  magis- 
trates of  his  counft-y.     It  was  not  the  military  exploits  alone,  even  of 
the  immortal  Washington,  which  gave  to  him  a  pre-eminent  claim  to 
the  first  civil  honors.     He  was  distinguished  for  those  rare  and  pecul- 
iar characteristics  which  qualified  him  to  adorn  and  bless  society,  either 
in  private  or  public  stations  ;  and  by  his  unparalleled  efforts  in  the  ac- 
quisition   of  our  independence,  was    well  entitled  to  all  the  honors 
which  his   country  could  confer.     The  advocates  for  Gen.  Jackson, 
cannot  pretend  that  in  the  performance  of  the  various  civil   offices 
which  he   has   filled,   he   ever  evinced  those  extraordinary  qualities 
which  should  distinguish  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  chief  magistrate. 
It  is  unfortunate  for  him,  that  the  military   achievements  which  first 
gave  general  celebrity  to  his  character,  gave  publicity  also,  to  his  vi- 
ces and  errors ;  and  over  which  the  veil  tl  at  covers  human  infirmi- 
ties might  have  been  thrown,  had  not  an  effort  been  made  to  intrude 
him  into  a-place,  for  which,  in  the  destmies  of  our  republic,  he  could 
never  have  been  designed.      Gen.  Jackson  is  highly  reputed,  by  his 
political  advocates,  for  decision  of  character,  which  is  considered  an 
important  qualification  in  the  character  of  a  chief  magistrate.     But 
it  should  be  remarked,  the  decision  requisite  for  that  office,  should  be 
preceded  by  cool,  candid,  and  judicious  deliberation.      It  has,  how- 
ever, been  discovered,  that  Gen.  Jackson  decides  from  the  impulse  of 
the  moment,  rashly,  and  without  consideration ;  that  his  decision  of 
character,  arises  from  an  impetuous  temper,   which  always  exposes 
one  who  is  exercised  with  it,  to  make  incorrect  and  unjust  decisions ; 
and  which  not  only   exposes  him,  but  has  often  impelled  him  to  the 
commission  of  errors,  and  even  of  crimes,  which  should  disqualify 
him  for  any  important   civil  office,  and  even  from  all    confidence, 
which  a  sense  of  moral  obligation  should  inspire.     That  from  the  ir- 
ritability of  his  constitution,  and  an  untoward  disposition,  he  does  not 
control  the  first  impulse  of  his  temper,  but  has  indulged  it  in  repeated 
**  acts,  of  violence,  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  his  country,  and  against 
the   dictates  of  humanity.     Abundant  attestations  of  this  fact  are  be- 
fore the  public. 

Col.  Benton  has  attested,  that  in  the  year  1812,  Gen.  Jackson,  with 
some  of  his  friends,  came  to  the  house  in  Nashville,  where  he  was, 
and  commenced  an  attack  upon  him,  by  levelling  a  pistol  at  him,  when 
he  had  no  weapon  of  defence  drawn,  and  advanced  upon  him  with  a 
quick  pace,  without  giving  him  time  to  draw  one ;  that  an  affray 
thereupon  commenced  between  hhn  and  Gen.  Jackson,  and  their  res- 
pective friends,  in  which  several  pistols  were  discharged,  one  by  Gen, 
Jackson  at  him.  Col.  Benton,  whose  life  he  obviously  intended  to  des- 
tro-r,  and  from  which  he  was  probably  prevented,  by  being  disabled  by 
a  pistol  shot  fro^m  Col.  Bentou's  brother.     It  is  not  thought  necessary 


[8] 

to  detail  all  the  particular  facts  relating  to  this  horrible  outrage,  as  stat- 
ed by  Col.  Benton,  but  only  to  attest  the  fact,  that  Gen.  Jackson  is 
governed  by  an  impetuous  temper,  which  render^  hnn  a  dangerous 
man,  even  in  private  life,  and  that  the  people  may  be  enabled  duly  to 
appreciate- his  decision  of  character,  so  much  extolled  by  his  advocates. 
But  it  was  in  the  exercise  of  militaf)^  power,  and  administration  of 
martini  law,  that  he,  while  reaping  the  laurels  of  heroic  fame,  exhibited 
to  view  a  political  character  which  should  fore ve» exclude  him  from 
the  confidence  of  a  wise  people. 

It  appears  from  the  following  account  that  Gen.  Jackson,  from  his 
entire  dereliction  of  principle,  which  should  govern  the  conduct  of 
men  in  the  civil  state,  cannot  be  intrusted  with  any  power,  either  civil 
or  military.  It  is  well  known^  that  in  our  last  war  with  Great  Britain, 
in  the  year  1814,  a  detachment  of  Tennessee  militia  was  drafted  by 
order  of  Governor  Blount,  who  arrived  at  their  place  of  rendezvous 
on  the  20th  of  June,  the  same  year.  The  privates  were  told  by  their 
officers,  a  Captain  and  Lieutenant,  that  by  the  existing  I  avs  of  their 
own  state,  as  well  as  of  the  United  States,  they  could  only  be  compell- 
ed to  serve  for  three  months.  Supposing  therefore  their  tour  of  duty 
was  completed,  on  the  20th  of  the  then  next  September,  upwards  of 
two  hundred  of  them  dehvered  up  their  muskets,  drew  their  rations, 
and  set  out  for  home.  But  having  received  advice  on  their  way,  that 
they  were  wrong  in  supposing  their  time  of  service  had  expired,  they 
were  honestly  returning  to  their  encampment,  when  by  order  of  Gen. 
Jackson,  they  were  arrested,  charged  v/ith  mutiny,  and  brought  to  tri- 
al before  a  court  martial. 

The  officers  by  whose  advice  the  men  had  acted,  and  who  were 
convicted  of  having  excited  and  connived  at  the  mutiny  charged,  were 
simply  dismiss-ed  from  the  service ;  about  two  hundred  others  were 
sentenced  to  make  good  the  time  they  had  lost,  and  {;t  the  expiration  of 
their  service,  to  have  their  heads  shaved,  and  to  be  drummed  out  of 
camp ;  and  six  were  condemned  to  suffer  death.  These  sentences 
could  not  be  operative  without  the  sanction  of  Gen.  Jackson,  but  that 
sanction  was  given  by  him  on  the  22d  of  January,  1815,  and  carried 
into  effect.  But  th»  fact  is  well  ascertained,  that  the  men  thus  sen- 
tenced and  punished  by  order  of  Gen.  Jackson,  did  not  mis-conceive 
their  rights,  when  they  left  the  army  at  the  end  of  their  three  months. 
The  law  of  1795,  limits  the  term  of  miUtary  duty,  to  a  period  of, three 
months.  The  law  of  the  10th  of  April,  1812,  by  which  the  term  of 
service  was  extended  to  six  months,  expired  by  its  own  provisions,  on 
the  10th  of  April,  1814.  The  men  in  question  were  detailed  for  duty 
after  the  expiration  of  this  law,  namely  in  May,  1814.  Every  sub- 
sequent draft  could  be  held  to  serve  only  for  three  months,  unless  un- 
der the  provisions  of  a  law,  passed  on  the  1 8th  of  April,  1814,  the 
President  of  the  United  States  should  expressly  order  a  continuance 
of  the  term ;  and  such  an  order  in  this  case  has  not  be«n  pretended. 
On  the  contrary,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  expressly  direct- 
ed Governor  Blount  to  consider  his  draft  of  militia  as  called  out 
under  the  law  of  1795,  and  gives  as  his  reason  for  so  doing,  his  re- 
liance on  the  patriotism  of  the  citizens  of  Tennessee,  to  fill  up  ihf 
ranks  as  occasion  might  require. 


.   L  '^  J 

Thus  it  appears,  that  while  Gen.  Jackson  was  achievemg  Oie  miiita 
rv  2lory  which  his  poUtical  advocates  would  contend  has  entitWhim 
to  the  first  civil  honors  of  his  country,  he  has  heen  proved  to  have 
condemned  six  men  to  death,  and  nearly  two  hundred  others  to  an  ig^ 
nominrous  punishment,  not  only  against  the  plamest  dictates  of  mercy 
and  humanity,  but  in  direct  violation  ot  the  laws  ^>[  ^f  ^^^"f  T '.  ^^.^ 
It  will  be  understood  by  the  American  people,  that  the  admmistia- 
tion  of  martial  law,  is  to  be  resorted  to,  only  in  extraordinary  cu-cum- 
iances  when  the  public  safety  requires  it.  On  the  22d  of  January, 
is"    Xd^^^^^^^  the  invasion  of  New-Orleans  by  the  enemy  was 

at  an  end.     The  signal  victory  obtained  over  them,  was  on  the  8th  ot 
^he  same  January ;    and  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  at  War  dated  the 
19th  of  January,  three  days  before  he  gave  his   sanction  to  the  sen- 
tence  of  those  unfortunate  men,  he  expressly  declares  that  all  danger 
from  an  invading  enemy,  in  that  part  of  the  country,  was  at  an  end  ; 
or,  to  use  his  own  words,  '^  I  believe  you  will  not  believe  me   oo  san- 
auineiii  the  belief,  that  Louisiana  is  now  clear  of  its  enemies.       Had 
t'hose  men,therefore,  whom  he  sentenced  to  an  ignominious  punishment, 
and  to  deatJh,  actually  been  guilty,  accordi-ig  to  the  usages  of  war, 
and  the  principles  which  should  govern  those  who  are  clothed  with  au- 
thority, it  was  his  imperious  duty  to  have  pardoned  them.     The  lea- 
son  of  the  severities  of  the  martial  law,  had  ceased;  the  operations  of 
the  law   should  therefore  have  ceased,  and  its   penalties  should  have 
been  dispensed  with.     Had  he  exercised  a  small  portion  of  that  delib- 
erative wisdom,  which  should  distinguish  a  man  in  any  ^^P^'^^^'^f 
fice      ither  civil  or  military,  he  might  have  avoided  the  imputation  ot 
havin-  thus  trampled  upon  the  laws  of  his  country. and  of  humanity 
Du?m-  the  revolutionary  war,  of  eight  years  continuance,  it  is  well 
laiown  tnat  our  country  had  every  where  scattered  over  its  extensive 
t-rritory,  those  who  were  unfriendly  to  the  American  cause,  and  were 
dispo.edto  render  the  enemies    of  our  country  every  possible  aid; 
and  du"in2  that  war  hundreds  of  our  militia  men,  left  the  camp,  and 
returned  home  before  the  time  for  which  they  had  been  dra:ted  had 
expired;    and  in  some  instances,  in  the  very  face  of  the  enemy;  yet 
the  great  and  gallant  Washington,  whose  name  has  been  too  oiten 
profaned,  by  using  it  in  connection  with  Gen.  Jackson's    never  once 
proclaimed  martial  law  ;  neither  was  a  militiaman  ever  shot  by  hii.-Cri^ 

The  conduct  of  Gen.  Jackson,  in  the  condemnation  and  execution 
of  Aburthnot  and  Amhrister,  was  also  highly  <''l^«''a'='^"^''<^^,°  f'' 
tyrant.  They  were  tried  for  an  alleged  cnme,  by  a  court  m^'^^l,  m- 
Btituted  by  him  for  that  purpose,  and  by  that  court  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced tol  punishment  not  capital.  Gen.  Jackson  m  contem^^f  the 
proceedings  of  the  court  and  the  sentence  they  had  'ho«|l  P  o|.  o 
pass,  immediately  ordered  the  accused  to  be  punished  V  lUu^^ath. 
which  was  by  his  order  inflicted,  on  the  morni-.g  of  tne  next  day. 

The  maxtfal  law,  according  to  the  usages  ot  war  amoftg  omhzed 
nations,  cannot,  consistently  with  tte  r.ghts  of  men  «l'^/'-'^.';f  P*  f 
like  oui's,  be  enforced,  until  those  who  are  accused  of  havmg  mcur- 
ved  its  penalties,  are  first  found  guilty  bv  the  sentence  of  o.  court,  con 


'   10  _ 

sisuii"  v)f  olBctTa  appuiiiitu  by  the  coinuianaer-^n-ciiiei ;  \vuo  ait;  Hi- 
so  to  aflix  to  the  conviction,  the  punic^hnicnt  to  be  inflicted.  This 
sentence  he  may  aftirm,  or  he  may  refuse  to  affirm  it,  and  in  that  case, 
the  sentence  cannot  be  enforced.  But  if  he  disregards  the  sentence 
of  the  court,  and  passes  on  the  accused  a  diiferent  one,  he  thereby 
renders  himself  a  tyrant,  and  evinces  a  disposition  not  to  be  governed 
by  any  law,  except  his  own  despotic  will.  It  may  be  true,  that  Ara- 
brister  and  Aburthnot  well  deserved  the  punishment  of  death  ;  but  it 
is  verv  obvious  that  Gen.  Jackson  inflicted  that  punishment,  without 
any  right  vested  in  him,  either  by  virtue  of  his  military  commission, 
or  the  laws  of  his  country. 

His  conduct  towards  the  French  Consul,  and  the  French  Aliens, 
then  resident  at  New-Orleans,  not  only  exceeded  his  power  as  a  mili- 
tary chief,  but  was  in  direct  violation  of  the  law  of  nations.  Cheva- 
lier Tousard,  the  French  Consul,  had  furnished  a  portion  of  the 
French  residents  at  New-Orleans  with  certificates  of  French  citizen- 
ship, which  exempted  them  from  military  duty,  and  which  exemption 
they  had  a  right  to  claim,  according  to  the  law  of  nations.  These 
certificates  Gen.  Jackson  could  not  disapprove,  but  under  the  colour 
of  martial  law,  he  banished  those  who  had  thus  obtained  them,  to  a 
place  called  Baton  Rouge,  120  miles  from  New-Orleans,  in  the  interi- 
or, and  arrested  and  imprisoned  Tousard  the  Consul,  for  no  other  of- 
fence but  that  of  claiming  an  exeAiption  from  militaj-y  duty,  for  the 
French  ahens  ;  to  do  w^hich,  he  had  not  only  a  right,  but  was  impelled 
in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duty.  But  the  person  of  an  ambassa- 
dor or  other  public  minister,  autliorised  and  received  as  such,  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  is  not  liable  to  arrest  or  imprisonment, 
but  is  exempted  therefrora,  both  by  the  law  of  nations,  and  by  a  law 
of  the  United  States.  If  he  even  commits  a  capital  offence,  or  makes 
an  ill  use  of  his  character,  he  may  be  sent  home,  and  accused  by  the 
o-overnmcnt  who  sent  him,  which  is  bound  to  do  justice  to  him,  or 
avows  itself  the  accomplice  of  his  crime. 

About  the  same  time  these  extraordinary  measures  were  prosecut- 
ino-,  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  by  the  name  of  Lauailher,  had 
published  in  a  New-Orleans  Gazette,  an  article  of  which  Gen.  Jack- 
son did  not  approve  ;*  he  therefore  immediately  ordered  him  to  be  ar- 

*Tlie  article  jtiluded  to,  contains  some  strictjires  on  the  conduct  of  Gen.  Jackson 
in  banishinff  the  French  aliens  from  New-Orleans,  published  in  a  paper  called  the 
"Louisiana  Courier."  The  following-  is  a  copy  of  the  article  for  which  Lauaillier 
was  tried  by  a  court  miTftial  by  Gen  .Jackson's  order. 

"Mr.  Editor To  rem<i.'u  silent  on  the  last  general  order,  directinj;;^  ail  the 

Frenphraen  who  now  reside  iil  iXew-Orleans,  to  leave  it  in  three;  days,  and  to  keep 
at  a  distance  of  120  miles  of  it,  wcJt'ld  be  an  act  of  cowardice,  which  ogght  not  to 
he  expected  from  a  citizen  of  a  free  ccSi'ntry  ;  and  when  every  one  laments  sucl: 
;>M  abv^e  of  authority,  the  press  ought  to  de"r?ounce  it  to  the  people. 

"{rt  <5\  '^<?r  to  encourage  a  communication  between  both  countries,  the  7th  and 
•^th  articles  «f  the  treaty  or  cession,  secure  to  the  French,  who  shall  coriie  to  Lou- 
isiana certain  commercial  advanta°es  which  they  are  to  cnjny  during  the  term 
of  twelve  years,  which  are  not  ^et  expired.     At  the  expiration  of  that  term,  they 

-).iin  he  treated'  in  the  same  manner,  as  the  most  favored  nation — a  p'-iace  whicli 


^mp.rlcan  govcrnmeBt  in  its  reialiou  with  ibrei-sn  nations. 


rested  and  confined,  and  to  be  tried  as  for  a  capital  offence ;  \\  here- 
upon Lauaillier  by  his  counsel  made  application  to  Dominic  A.  Hall, 
Judge  of  the  district,  for  a  writ  of  Habeas-Corpus  for  his  enlarge- 
ment. The  writ  was  immediately  issued  by  the  Judge,  directed  to 
Gen.  Jackson,  commanding  him  to  show  reasons  for  the  detention  of 
this  legislator.  The  Marshal  who  served  the  writ,  gave  it  to  Gen. 
Jackson  for  his  perusal,  at  his  request,  who  refused  to  redeliver  it  to 
the  Marshal.  But  instead  of  obeying  the  command  of  the  writ,  and 
appearing  before  the  court  to  make  his  defence,  he  immediately  order- 
ed the  Judge  to  be  arrested,  for  issuing  the  writ  of  Habeus-Corpus, 
and  sent  out  of  the  city. 

It  should  be  remarked  for  the  information  of^  those  who  are  not 
learned  in  the  law,  that  the  writ  of  Habeas-Corpus  is  a  privilege  of 
the  citizen,  demandable  of  common  right,  by  any  person  who  is  im- 
prisoned, whether  under  color  of  authority,  or  without  it,  unless  the 
imprisonment  be  on  execution,  or  on  conviction  of  some  crime.  It  is 
directet!  to  the  person  who  has  the  custody  of  the  prisoner,  or  com- 
plainant, with  a  command  to  bring  him  before  the  court  with  the  cause 
of  his  detention.  When  the  person  imprisoned  is  brought  before  the 
court  with  a  return  of  the  cause  of  his  detention,  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
court  to  examine  whether  the  cause  be  illegal ;  and  if  so  found,  may 
discharge  him,  or  otherwise  remand  him  to  prison.  This  writ  is  of 
great  importance,  in  securing  the  personal  lilDerty  of  the  citizens ;  and 
the  right  to  suspend  the  issuing  it,  can  only  be  vested  in  the  highest 

legislative  authority  in  the  government. 

/- 
In  such  circumstances,  what  can  be  tlie  motives  which  have  induced  the  coin- 
mander-in-chief  of  (he  7th  military  district,  to  issue  general  orders  of  so  vexa- 
tious a  nature?     When  the  foreigners  of  every  nation,  when  the  Spaniards,  and 
even  the  English  are  suffered  to   remain  unmolested  among  us,  shall  the  French 
alone  be  condemned  to  ostracism,  because  they  rendered  too  great  services  ?  Had 
they  remained  gentle  spectators  of  the  last  events,  could  their  sentiments  towards 
us  be  doubted,  then  vve  might  merely   be  surprized  at  the  course  now  followed 
with  regard  to  them.    But  how  are  we  to  refrain  our  indignation  when  we  remem,- 
ber  that  these  very  Frenchmen,  who  aie  now  to  be  exiled  have  so  powerfully 
<:ontributed  to  the  preservation  of  Louisiana,  without  speaking  of  the  corps  who 
so  eminently  distinguished  themselves,  and  in  which  we  see  a  number  of  French- 
men, rank  either  as  officers  or  privates ;  how  can  we  forget  that  they  were  Fiench 
artillerists  who  directed  and  served  a  part  of  those  pieces  of  cannon  which  so 
greatly  annoyed  the  British  forces  ?  can  any  one  flatter  himself  that  so  important 
services  could  have  so  soon  been  forgotten  ?  No  :  they  are  engraved  in  everlasr- 
ing  characters,  in  the  hearts  of  al'  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana,  and  they  shall 
perform  a  brilliant  part  in   the  history  of  their  country;  and  when  those  brave 
men  ask  no  other  reward,  but  being  permitted  peaceably  to  enjoy  among  us  the 
rights  secured  to  them  by  treaties,  and  the  laws  of  America,  far  from  sharing  in 
the  sentiments  which  have  dictated  the  general  order,  we  avail  ourselves  of  this 
opportunity  to  give  them  a  public  testimony  of  our  gi'atitude.     Far  from  us  the 
idea  that  there  be  a  single  Frenchman  so  pusillanimous  as  to  forsake  his  country 
merely  to  please  the  military  commander  of  this  distrnct,  and  in  order  to  avoid 
the  proscription  to  which  he  has  chosen  to  condemn  them  ;  we  may  therefore  ex- 
pect to  see  them  all  repair  to  the  Consul  of  their  nation,  there  to  renew  the  act 
which  binds  them  to  their  country  ;  but  in  supposing  that  in  jdelding  to  a  senti- 
ment of  fear,  they  consent  to  cease  to  be  French  citizens,  could  they  by  such  an 
abjuration,  become  American  citizens?     No,  certainly  they  could  not;  the  man 
who  would  be  powerful  enough  to  denationalize  them,   would  not  be  powerful 
enough  to  give  them  a  country.     It  is  better,  therefore,  for  a  man  to  remain  a 
faithuil  Frenchman,  than  to  suffer  himself  to  be  scared  even  by  the  martial  law ; 
a  law  useless  when  the  presence  of  the  foe  and  honor  call  us  to  arms  ;  but  which 
becomes  degrading  when  their  shameful  flight  suffer  us  to  enjoy  a  glorious  rest, 
which  fear   and  terror  ought  not  to  disturb.    But   could  it  be  possible  that  tlV; 


L  i^  J 

In  the  case  of  Lauaillier,  Judge  Hall  could  not  be  justilied  in  sus- 
pending the  issuing  of  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  without  being  au- 
thorised so  to  do,  by  a  law  of  Congress  for  that  express  purpose. 
Without  such  a  law,  the  President  of  the  United  States  could  not  sus- 
pend the  issuing  of  such  a  writ,  when  it  was  demanded ;  and  Con- 
gress never  have,  and  probably  never  will  make  a  law  so  repugnant 
to  the  constitution.  Yet  Judge  Hall  was  arrested  by  Gen.  Jackson 
and  committed  to  custody,  for  no  other  offence,  whatever,  but  the  is- 
suing 01  this  writ  to  effect  the  release  of  Lauaiiliar  from  an  illegal  ini- 
prif  ontnent.  An  application  was  then  made  by  a  Mr.  Dick,  the  dis- 
trict attorney,  at  the  request  of  Judge  Hall,  for  a  writ  of  Habeas-Cor- 
pus,  to  effect  his.  Judge  Hall's,  liberation,  and  Gen.  Jackson  immedi- 
ately arrested  Mr.  Dick,  for  making  the  application,  and  delivered  to 
an  officer  an  order  to  arrest  Judge  Lewis  for  granting  the  writ !  !  ! 

According  to  the  usages  and  articles  of  war,  whenever  a  military 
chief  has  evidence  that  any  one  under  his  command  is  guilty  of  mu- 
tinous or  tratorous  conduct,  or  disobedience  of  orders,  he  may  inflict 

<;oiisiitutioti  and  the  laws  of  our  country  ohould  have  left  it  in  the  power  of  the 
several  commanders  of  military  districts',  to  dissolve  all  at  once  the  ties  of  friend- 
ship which  unite  America  to  the  nations  of  Europe ;  eould  it  be  possible  that 
peace  or  war  could  depend  upon  their  caprice  and  the  friendship  or  enmity  they 
might  entertain  for  any  nation?  We  do  not  hesitate  in  declaring,  that  nothing  of 
the  kind  exists.  The  President  alone  has,  by  iVw.  the  right  to  adopt  against  alien 
enemies,  such  measures  as  the  state  of  war  may  render  necessary  ;  and  for  that 
purpose  he  must  issue  a  proclamation*;  but  this'is  a  power  which  he  cannot  dele- 
gate. It  IS  by  virtue  of  that  law  and  of  a  proclamation,  that  the  subjects  of 
Great  Britain  were  removed  from  our  ports  and  sea  f>>hores.  But  we  do  not  know 
any  law  authoiizing  Gen.  Jackson  to  apply  to  alien  friends  a  measure  which  the 
President  of  the  United'States  himself  has  only  the  right  to  adopt  against  alien 
enemies. 

Our  laws  protect  strangers  who  come  to  reside  among  us.  To  the  sovereign 
alone,  belongs  tlie  right  of  depriving  them  of  that  ptotection  ;  and  all  those  who 
know  how  to  appreciate  the  title  of  an  American  citizen  and  who  are  acquainted 
with  their  prerogatives,  will  sfiasily  understand  that  by  the  Sovereign,  I  do  by 
no  means  intend  ro  designate  ^TMajor  General  or  any  other  military  commander, 
to  whom  I  willingly  grant  the  power  of  issuing  general  orders  like  the  one  in 
question,  but  to  whom  I  deny  that  of  having  them  executed. 

If  the  last  general  order  has  no  other  object  but  to  inspire  in  us  a  salutary  fear, 
if  it  is  only  destined  to  be  read,  if  it  is  not  to  be  followed  by  any  act  of  violence, 
if  it  is  only  to  be  executed  by  those  who  may  choose  to  leave  the  city  in  order  to 
enjoy  the  pure  air  of  the  country,  we  shall  forget  that  extraordinary  order  j  but 
should  any  thing  else  happen,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  tribunals  shall,  soor^er 
or  later,  do  justice  to  the  victims  of  that  illegal  order  Every  alien  friend  who 
.shall  continue  to  respect  the  laws  which  rule  our  country,  shall  continue  to  be  en- 
titled to  their  protection.  Could  that  general  order  berf^plied  to  us,  we  should 
calmly  wait  until  we  were  forced  by  violence  to  execute  it.  well  convinced  of  the 
firmness  of  the  magistrates,  who  are  the  organs  of  the  laws  in  this  part  of  the 
union,  and  the  guardians  of  public  order 

Let  us  conclude  by  saying,  it  is  high  time  the  laws  should  resume  their  empire; 
that  the  citizens  of  this  state  should  return  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  rights; 
that  in  acknov\ledgipg  we  are  indebted  to  Gen.  Jackson  for  the  preset  vation  of 
our  city,  and  the  defeat  of  the  British,  we  do  not  feel  much  inclined  through  grati- 
,tude,  to  sacrifice  any  of  our  privileges,  and  less  than  any  other,  that  of  express- 
ing our  opinion  about  the  acts  of  his  administration ;  that  it  is  time  the  citizens, 
accused  of  any  crime,  should  be  rendered  to  tlieir  natural  judges,  and  were  to  be 
brouglit  before  special  or  military  tribunals,  a  kind  of  institutions  held  in  ahhor- 
Tence,  even  in  absolute  governments  ;  and  that  after  having  done  enough  for  glory,- 
the  tnoment  of  moderation  has  arrived;  and  finally  that  the  acts  of  authority 
which  the  invasion  of  our  country  and  our  safety  may  have  rendered  necessary, 
are  since  the  evacuation  of  it  by  the  enemv,  no  longer  compatible  with  our  digni- 
ty and  our  oath  of  makinc:  the  constitution  respectvd. 


L  1^  J 

upon  liim  a  punishment  proportioned  to  the  offence,  withoiu  proclaunni^ 
martial  law  That  is  necessary  only  when  it  is  intended  to  extend  its 
jurisdiction  over  the  civil  rights  of  the  citizens  ;  to  suspend  the  ope- 
rations of  the  legislative  and  judiciary  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  to  subject  the  people  to  the  regulations  and  discipline  of 
the  camp.  This  was  evidently  the  object  pf  Gen.  Jackson.  He  told 
Major  Claiborn,  that  while  martial  law  existed,  no  one  should  be  above 
him.  But  in  the  republic  of  the  United  States,  or  indeed  in  any  oth- 
er government  which  is  not  purely  military,  the  jurisdiction ''of  mar- 
tial law  cannot  be  extended  to  those  who  are  not  actually  in  militarv 
service,  and  under  the  command  of  a  military  chief. 

13y  the  7th  article  of  the  amendments,  now  a  part  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  it  is  provided  that  no  person  shall  be  held 
to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise  infamous  offence,  unless  on  a 
presentation  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,  except  in  cases  arising  in 
the  land  or  naval  forces,  or  in  the  militia  when  in  actual  service  in 
time  of  war,  or  public  danger,  and  by  the  same  article  it  is  also  provid- 
ed that  no  person  shall  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  property,  without 
due  course  of  law. 

It  was  never  intended  by  the  constitution,  to  give  to  any  military 
chief  discretionary  power  to  interfere  with  the  civil  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple. That  this  was  not  the  view  that  Congress  had  of  the  extent  of 
military  power,  is  obvious  from  an  act  of  Congress,  passed  the  10th 
day  of  April,  1806;  thereby  it  is  enacted,  that  in  time  of  war,  all 
persons  not  citizens  of,  or  owing  allegiance  to  the  United  States  of 
America,  who  shall  be  found  lurking  as  spies,  in  or  ab^ut  the  fortify- 
cations  or  encampments  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  or  any  of  I 
them,  shall  suffer  death  according  to  the  law  and  usages  of  nations,  I 
by  sentence  of  a  general  court  mai'tial.  It  is  very  obvious  it  was 
ever  considered  by  Congress  that  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  had  excluded  any  and  every  military  chief  from  extendino-  the 
jurisdiction  of  martial  law  to  any  person  whatever,  who  was  not  in 
actual  service,  unless  such  persons  were  designated  by  a  law  enacted 
for  that  express  purpose  ;  and  by  this  act  it  appears  the  persons  de- 
signated are  not  only  aliens  not  owing  allegiance  to  the  United  States 
but  who  are  to  be  identified  as  spies,  and  when  found  guilty,  the  law 
affixes  the  punishment  of  death.  It  was  under  the  pretended  authori- 
ty of  this  law,  that  Gen.  Jackson  sent  the  French  aliens  to  Baton 
Rouge,  without  conviction  of  guilt,  and  without  a  trial.  No  descrip- 
tion of  persons  could  be  considered  more  amenable  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  a  court  martial,  than  alien  spies,  and  yet  it  was  thought  necessary 
by  C  ngress,  to  pass  a  special  act  for  the  purpose  of  authorising  their 
trial  and  conviction  by  a  court  martial. 

It  appears  then,  that  in  the  face  of  our  government,  and  in  the  midst 
of  a  people  who  admit  no  power  above  the  laws,  an  individual  has 
been  permitted  with  impunity,  under  the  color  of  mihtary  authority, 
to  sport  with  the  lives  and  liberties  of  our  citizens. 

There  may  be  circumstances  attending  the  events  of  war,  in  which 
the  public  danger  might  be  so  alarming  as  to  justify  a  military  com- 
mander in  a  momentary  sacrifice  of  the  civil  riohts   of  individuals  : 


I 


»     ±4 


/ 


when  the  preservation  of  the  country  might  require  it.  But  in  sucli 
extreme  exigencies,  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  extraordinary  nieeis- 
ures,  sliould  be  such  ?.s  to  admit  of  the  clearest  demonstration.  '  From 
pretended  apprehensions,  that  such  danger  is  approaching,  or  to  guard 
against  what  might  be  considered  well  founded  suspicions,  it  was  nev- 
er intended  by  the  constitution  or  the  policy  of  our  government,  that 
a  military  chief,  in  time  of  war,  may  at  his  discretion,  put  down  the 
civil  administration,  ^y  a  proclamation  of  martial  law. 

By  referring  to  the  dates  of  events  attending  his  administration  of 
martial  law,  it  will  appear  that  any  of  the  violations  of  the  rights  of 
the  citizens  he  committed  under  the  color  of  that  law,  could  not  have 
been  dictated  by  a  sense  of  public  danger  ;  that  the  public  safety  did 
not  require  them.     . 

It  is  well  knov/n  that  the  proclamation  of  martial  law  was  made  on 
the  15th  of  December,  1814;  and  the  celebrated  victory,  as  has  been 
remarked,  v.'as  on  the  Sth  of  January  following.  The  articles  of 
peace  were  signed  at  Ghent,  on  the  24th  of  December,  1814,  and  rat- 
ified by  the  president  of  the  United  States,  on  the  1 7th  of  the  Febru- 
ary next  Ibllowing. 

It  has  been  already  shown,  that  on  the  22d  of  January,  1815,  when 
he  inflicted  the  punishment  oi  death  on  the  six  militiamen,  and  an  igno- 
minious punishment  on  about  two  hundred  others,  it  could  not,  as  his 
friends  have  urged,  be  considered  a  necessary  measure  of  defence 
against  the  enemy,  dictated  by  a  sense  of  danger,  since  he,  on  the  19th 
of  January,  had  written  to  the  Secretary  of  war,  that  at  that  time  Lou- 
isiana was  clear  of  its  enemies. 

On  the  7th  of  the  March  next  following,  he  received  conclusive  e\  - 
idenpe  from  the  seat  of  government,  that  peace  was  ratified  between 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain.  But  Lauaillier,  on  the  4th  of  the 
same  month,  when  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  was,  by  or- 
der of  Gen.  Jackson,  arrested,  imprisoned,  and  ordered  for  trial  by 
his  court  martial.  On  the  llth  of  the  same  month,  Judge  Hall  was 
arrested  and  sent  out  of  the  city,  and  kept  in  custody,  for  issuing 
the  writ  of  Habeas-Corpus,  which  has  been  mentioned,  for  the  release 
of  LaualUer.  The  order  for  the  removal  of  the  French  aliens,  and 
the  imprisonment  of  the  French  Consul  which  has  been  mentioned, 
was  made  on  the  28th  of  January,  1815,  nine  days  after  the  enemy 
were  gone.  The  French  aliens  were  not  permitted  to  return  to  New- 
Orleans,  until  the  8<h  of  March,  nineteen  days  after  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty  by  the  president ;  and  the  French  Consul  was  not  discharg- 
ed until  the  13th  of  March.  Tousard  was  the  friend  of  La  Fayette, 
and  was  maimed  in  our  revolutionary  war. 

Immediately  after  the  llth  of  the  same  March,  l\Ir.  Dick,  the 
district  attorney,  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  for  making  appli- 
cation to  Judge  Lewis  for  a  writ  of  Habeas-Corpus,  for  the  re- 
lief of  Judge  Hall,  and  an  order  also  was  by  order  of  Gen.  Jackson 
delivered  to  an  officer  for  the  arrest  of  Judge  Lewis,  for  issuing  the 
writ.  It  is  not  known  by  the  author  of  these  remarks,  that  Judge 
Lewis  was  arrested  on  this  last  order.  The  officer  who  received  the 
order  misht  have  been  deterred  from  contributing  his  aid  to  such  ille- 


[  li  J 

gal  and  disgraceilil  proceedings,  or  might  not  have  had  an  opportuni- 
ty to  have  executed  the  order  before  the  13th  of  JMarch,  after  which 
time  Gen.  Jackson  could  no  longer  conceal  the  fact  that  peace  had 
taken  place,  and  was  therefore,  on  that  day,  forced  to  the  necessity  of 
publishing  the  news  of  peace,  and  revoking  his  order  ior  the  procla- 
mation of  martial  law.  ^  I  have  said  that  he  was  forced  to  this  measure, 
because  it  appears  from  the  whole  course  of  his  administration  of  that 
law,  he  exliibited  such  a  predominant  disposition  to  make  a  wanton 
and  supercilious  display  of  his  military  power  over  the  civil  rights 
of  the  citizens,  and  that  too  after  the  reasons  which  he  had  himself 
assigned  for  the  order  of  martial  law  had  ceased  ;  he  must  with  reluc- 
tance  have  parted  with  that  power,  especially  when  he  had  just  reason 
to  expect  that  when  he  could  no  longer  be  protected  in  his  mad  ca- 
reer by  the  event  of  war,  he  should  have  to  surrender  himself  to  the 
justice  of  an  indignant,  insulted,  and  abused  people  ;  and  the  people 
of  the  United  States  have  cause  to  exult  in  the  recollection,  that  one 
magistrate  has  been  found,  v/ho  hastened  to  wipe  away  the  stain  upon 
our  national  honor,-  and  to  avenge  the  insulted  dignity  of  the  laws  of 
the  republic.  The  Hon.  Judge  Hall,  being  released  from  his  imprii?- 
onment  by  the  proclamation  of  peace,  which  was  made  on  the  13th  of 
March,  issued  his  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  Gen.  Jackson,  on  the  3 1st 
of  the  same  month,  whereupon  he  was  brought  before  the  court,  iln 
which  Judge  Hall  presided,  and  was  put  upon  his  trial,  on  a  chargie, 
that  while  the  Judge  of  the  United  States  was  exercising  one  of  the 
most  important  functions  of  his  office,  he  was  imprisoned, by  order  of 
the  General,  that  the  process  of  the  court  was  treated  with  disrespect, 
that  the  officers  of  the  court  were  menaced,  and  finally,  that  by  threats 
and  violence,  the  course  of  justice  was  obstructed.  After  havin/-^ 
heard  his  defence,  the  Judge  imposed  on  him  a  fine  of  one  thousand 
dollars. 

The  government  of  the  United  States,  from  extreme  indulgence,  m 
consideration  of  his  energetic  and  heroic  achievements  in  defendino- 
his  country,  have  hitherto  spared  him  from  that  punishment,  which,  by 
the  violated  laws  of  his  country,  they  might  in  justice  have  inflicted. 

It  was  indeed  an  unfortunate  event,  when  only  thirty-eight  years  of 
our  existence  as  free  and  independent  states,  had  elapsed,  our  govern- 
ment was  impelled  by  imperious  circumstances,  either  to  inflict  an 
exemplary  punishment  on  a  military  chief  who  by  his  brave  achieve- 
ments, had  rendered  important  services  to  his  country,  or  permit  an 
individual  with  impunity,  wantonly  to  violate  the  fundamental, princi- 
ples of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  republic.  To  inflict  the  pun- 
ishment, might  incur,  however  unjustly,  the  imputation  of  ingratitude 
from  an  important  and  essential  department  of  the  government.  To 
acquiesce  in  his  guilt,  would  be  establishing  a  prescedent,  which  in 
some  future  period,  might  encourage  an  exertion  of  military  power,  that 
in  case  of  a  long  protracted  war,  might  prove  fatal  to  liberty.  The 
evils  resulting  from  this  dilemma  of  circumstances,  might  in  some 
degree  have  been  alleviated,  by  the  oblivion  of  their  author. 

But  since  it  is  proposed  by  a  few  individ?ials.  to  elevate  h'm  from 
The  infamy  to  which  his  vices  and  his  crimes  had  assigned  him,  to  the 


lirst  otiice  in  the  government,  he  must  be  brought  beibre  the  tribunal 
ot"  pubUc  opinion  for  his  trial,  and  it  is  behoved  the  people  will  do 
liim  that  justice,  from  which  his  advocates  have  intended  to  screen 
him. 

Enough  has  already  been  exhibited,  respecting  the  public  character 
of  Gen.  Jackson,  to  exclude  him  forever  from  the  confidence  of  the 
people.  No  one,  whose  mind  is  not  blinded  by  passion,  or  prejudice, 
or  interest,  can  believe  that  a  sense  of  patriotism,  of  expediency,  or 
even  of  mistaken  policy,  could  have  been  the  cause  of  the  vices,  the 
errors,  and  the  crimes,  of  which  he  was  guilty,  in  the  discharge  of 
his  official  duties.  From  the  very  texture  of  his  constititution,  as  well 
as  from  pernicious  habits,  and  manners,  and  principles,  contracted  in 
early  life,  he  has  been  formed  for  a  tyrant,  and  the  sword  of  a  military 
despot,  is  the  sceptre  he  would  wield. 

In  his  private  conduct  and  intercourse  with  his  fellow  men,  he  has 
exhibited  an  impetuous  and  ungovernable  temper  ;  a  savage  and  dan- 
gerous disposition. 

His  conduct  in  the  Seminole  war,  identified  his  character  with  that 
of  his  savage  foes  ;  yet  because  Mr.  senator  Eppes  and  Ldcock 
dared  to  make  some  appropriate  strictures  in  relation  to  it,  he  threat- 
ened to  drag  the  former  from  his  seat,  and  threatened  personal  violence 
to  the  latter. 

Under  the  delusive  guise  of  chi%alric  honor,  he  has  from  his  youth 
bQen  in  the  habit  of  indulging  his  malignant  temper  in  acts  of  vio 
elnce.  The  details  ot  the  numerous  iastances  in  which  he  has  enter- 
ed the  field  of  private  combat,  and  the  suffering  and  misery  he  has 
thereby  occasioned  to  the  victims  of  his  vengeance,  and  tfieir  survi- 
vino-  relatives,  would  b,e  revolting  to  humanity.  His  affair  of  honor 
with  Charles  Dickerson,  is  enough  to  furnish  a  striking  specimen  of 
the  depravity  and  meannes  of  his  private  character. 

It  appears  that  in  the  summer  of  I  806,  Gen.  Jac^:s6n  ofFere'  to  bet 
five  thousand  dollars  with  Charles  Dickerson,  that  his  (the  General's) 
horse  would  beat  Dickerson's  in  rumiuig  the  four  mile  heats  ;  which 
ofier  was  accepted.  Dickerson's  rider,  said  he  lost  the  race  by  foul 
play  ;  and  that  Gen.  Jackson's  rider  jostltid  him  near  the  close  of  the 
last  round.  Gen.  Jackst&n,  on  hearing  this  charge,  said  he  would 
hold  any  man  responsible  who  dared  to  accuse  his  rider  with  foul 
play  ;  whereupon  a  quarrel  arose  between  them,  Avhich  ended  in  Gen. 
Jackson's  sen  ling  Dickerson  a  challenge,  which  was  accepted.  The 
formalities  attending  this  combat  have  been  differently  detailed  ;  but 
the  result  was,  that  he  killed  Dickerson  under  circumstances  shocking 
to  humanity. 

Gen.  Jackson,  in  his  correspondence  with  President  Monroe,  ex- 
pressed it  as  having  been  his  opinion,  "that  Madison  was  unfit  for  a 
president^  because  he  could  not  look  on  bloodshed  and  carnage  with 
composure."  It  will  he  acknowledged,  that  Gen.  Jackson  is  not  defi- 
cient in  this  qualification,  but  can  look  on  such  scenes  not  only  with 
composure,  but  with  compl  licency  ;  war  is  the  element  in  which  he  is 
destined  to  move ;  it  is  there  he  might  render  his  country  important 
services,  would  he  subject  his  disposition  to  the  control  of  the  civil 


[  17  ] 

po\yer ;  and  there  he  might  acquire  for  himself  the  splendid  honors 
which  are  due  only  to  the  hero.     But  he  most  clearly  evinced  a  reso- 
lution not  to  submit  to  civil   authority,  so  long  as  martial  law  could 
enable  him  to  resist  it.     This  is  attested  by  his  declaration  to  governor 
Claiborne,  that  while  martial  law  continued,  no  man  should  be  above 
him;  and  he  never,  on  any  occasion,  evinced  an  inclination  or  inten- 
tion of  revoking  his  order   for  the    administration  of  this  law,  in  any 
circumstances,   until  the  termination  of  the  war.     If  he  had  not   a 
strong  predilection  for  a  military  government,  and  to  rule,  himself  as 
the  chief  executive  officer  in  its  administration,  why  did  he  actually 
extend  the  jurisdiction  of  that  law  over  the  civil  rights  of  the  peo- 
ple?    Why  did  he  suspend  the  legislative  and  judiciary  power  of  gov- 
ernment by  the  operations  of  that  law  ?     His  only  answer  has  been, 
that  the  severities  of  martial  law,  were  necessary  measures  to  aid  him 
in  his  defence  against  the  common  enemy,  by  checking  and  controll- 
ing the  mutinous  and  traitorous  dispositions,  which  were  discovera- 
ble among  the  citizens  of  New-Orleans.     But  such  dispositions  could 
not  be  discoverable  without  some  evidence  arising  from  some  overt 
act ;  mere  suspicions  without  evidence  of  guilt,  could  never  justify 
either  a  civil  or  military  magistrate,  in  controlling  for  a  moment,  the 
right  of  the  personal  liberty  of  any  one,  whether  soldier  or  citizen ;  and 
if  Gen.  Jackson  had  evidence  of  such  guilt,  why  did  he  not  avail 
himself  of  it,  and  arrest  and  punish  some  one  who  might  be  guilty  of 
mutiny,  or  treachery,  or  treason?     He  evidently  discovered  no  aver- 
sion for  iiui  ting  punishment;  on  the  contrary,  it  appears  he  had  a 
keen  rehsh  for  that  business  ! 

His  appetite  for  inflicting  punishment  must  have  been  voracious 
indeed,  when  it  excited  him  to  punish  three  hundred  of  our  own  citi- 
zens in  fifty-three  days,  not  one  of  whom  had  incurred  the  penalty  of 
any  law  or  usage,  or  article  of  war,— and  that,  too,  after  all  danger 
from  the  public  enemies  of  our  country,  had  ceased. 

Why  then,  since  this  brave  general,  this  faithful  servant  of  the  re- 
public, who  was  so  scrupulously  diligent,  in  detecting  enemies,  and 
searching  out  the  victims  of  guilt,  and  subjects  of  punishment ;  why 
did  he  not  in  some  one  instance,  discover  satisfactory  evidence  of  the 
guilt  of  an  individual,  on  whom  he  might  have  inflicted  an  exemplary 
punishment,  and  thereby  furnished  some  evidence  to  the  public,  that 
the  reason  he  had  assigned,  for  his  justiflcation  in  proclaiming  mar- 
tial law  had  some  foundation  in  truth  ? 

If  mutiny,  and  treachery,  and  treason,  of  which  he  so  much  com- 
plamed,  had  in  reality  existed,  and  that  too,  to  that  alarming  extent  he 
had  represented,  some  overt  act  of  its  authors,  in  some  circumstance, 
must  have  exposed  their  guilt.  But  it  is  believed  there  never  was  any 
evidence  of  that  dangerous  disposition  afliQig  the  citizens  of  New- 
Orleans,  that  in  a  single  instance  could  justify  a  conviction  of  guilt. 
It  has  been  clearly  demonstrated  thaf  (h-  punishments  inflicted  by 
Gen.  Jackson,  under  the  authority  of  martial  law,  which  were  very 
numerous,*  were  on  those  who  incurred  no  guilt,  and  by  no  law  but 
the  dictates  of  his  will. 

*•  The  whole  number  of  persons  who  were  punished,  either  by  death,  imprison 
?Wnf  wri^"°™'°'°"'  punishment,  during  only  53  days,  and  after  Louisiana  wa- 
Clear  ol  its  enemies,  was  raore  than  three  hundred ! ! ! 


L  18  1 

Tlie  perpetuity  of  republican  privileges  will  depend  on  the  cliaracler 
of  those  who  administer  the  government.  It  will  be  in  vain  for  us  to 
boast  of  our  free  constitution,  and  a  government  of  laws,  if  we  will 
clothe  men  with  authority,  who  are  disposed  to  violate  the  constitu- 
tion, and  withhold  from  tlic  people  the  protection  of  the  laws  at  their 
will.  There  is  no  remedy  for  the  evils  which  might  result  from  the 
political  conduct  of  men,  wko  should  be  disposed  to  substitute  theii* 
will  for  law,  but  in  the  exertion  of  physical  tbrce,  and  when  the  gov- 
ernment might  be  impelled  to  resort  to  this  remedy  without  success, 
there  would  be  an  end  to  republican  hberty ;  and  if  such  remedy  suc- 
ceeds, we  could  not  expect  that  those  who  were  made  to  regard  the 
law  only  from  compulsion,  would  be  kept  in  subjection  to  it,  by  any 
other  means.  In  either  event,  therefoi**,  a  government  allied  to  a 
military  despotism,  if  not  absolutely  such,  must  be  the  result. 

Such  events  have  hitherto  sealed  the  fate  of  fallen  republics ;  and 
the  approach  of  such  events  may  be  apprehended,  when  a  despotic 
military  chief  shall  gain  possession  of  the  first  executive  office  in  the 
republic,  whether  he  forces  his  way  to  it,  or  it  is  procured  for  liim  by 
the  arts  of  cabal  and  intrigue,  or  the  iniiuence  of  corruption. 

It  was  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of  political  events,  and  of* 
the  character  of  Gen.  Jackson,  as  it  had  been  exhibited  in  his 
military  administration  during  the  last  war,  that  must  have  im- 
pressed the  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  late  President  of  the  United 
States,  when  he  expressed  the  opinion,  "that  the  run  which  Gen. 
Jackson  had  at  the  election,  was  an  evidence  that  the  republic 
would  not  stand  long  ;"  and  which  induced  him  to  remark,  that 
^'during  a  long  life,  he  had  attentively  watched  the  progress  of 
political  events  in  the  United  States,  with  a  particular  view  of 
satisfying  his  mind,  that  mankind  were  competent  to  self  govern- 
ment, to  believe  which  his  principles  inclined  him  ;  and  that  du- 
rin'T  his  whole  political  observation,  the  disposition  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  elect  Gen.  Jackson  president,  was  the  single  cir- 
cumstance which  had  shaken  his  faith,  and  made  him  fear  that  the 
American  republic  was  soon  to  follow  the  fate  of  alJ  others,  and 
to  fall  under  military  rule."*  Mr.  Jefferson  well  knew,  what  all 
rnav  know,  whose  minds  are  enlightened  with  the  knowledge  of 
political  events,  that  a  bold  and  unprincipled  military  chief,  at  the 
head  of  the  executive  department,  had  always  been  the  fatal  in- 
strument of  subverting  republican  liberty. 

It  was  not  difficult  for  him  to  discover  the  signs  of  a  fatal  politi- 
cal degeneracy,  when  a  few  individuals,  the  impostors  of  pretend- 
ed patriotism,  impelled  by  passion  and  prejudice  ;  by  motives  ex- 
clusively selfish,  by  dispositions  vindictive  and  rapacious,  had,  by 
the  arts  of  cabal  and  iibtiTgue,  succeeded  in  procuring  the  suffra- 
ges of  a  large  portion  of  the  electors  for  a  man  like  Gen.  Jackson, 
To  fdl  the  f  rst  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people  ;  an  office  of  more 


*  Seethe  letter  recentlv  published.  December  1827,  dated  Madison  county,  Illi- 
nois, Nov.  23d,  1827,  and"  Thomas  W.  Oilman,  Charlottsvillo,  May  27th,  1827,  tes- 
tifying positively  to  the  fact  of  Jefferson's  having  said  one  might  as  well  make  h 
bailor  of  a  cock,  or  a  soldier  of  a  sroosc,  as  a  president  of  Andrew  Jackson 


[  1'-  J 

iinportaiice   in  preserving  the   rights  of  man,    than  any  oihti  uj, 
earth ;  for   a  man  like  Gen.  Jackson,  with  not  a  single'  qualifica 
tiori  but  that  of  courage,  of  military  prowess,  and  a  disposition  to 
exert  it,  in  contempt  of  the  laws  of  his  country,  and  the  dictates 
of  humanity. 

It  is  not  strange  that  a  man  like  him,  of  ardent  and  desperate 
ambition,  should  aspire  to  the  office  of  chief  magistrate.  Neither 
is  it  strange  that  a  few  individuals  were  to  be  found,  to  nominate 
him  for  that  office,  who  are  abandoned  to  their  personal  views  of 
preferment ;  and  who,  to  secure  for  themselves  the  patronage  of 
the  executive  power,  must  elevate  to  its  dominion,  a  man  most 
like  themselves,  and  whose  predominant  motives  will  devote  him 
to  the  interests  of  those  to  whose  effiDrts  he  is  to  owe  his  eleva- 
tion. 

^  Those  who  nominated  Gen.  Jackson,  knew  very  well,  that  to 
insure  success  in  his  election,  be  must  by  some  means  have  ac- 
quired a  degree  of  popularity  ;  and  they  knew  that  his  militarv 
exploits  at  New-Orleans,  especially  on  the  8th  of  January,  1815, 
v/hen  lie  drov^  the  enemy  from  that  part  of  the  country,  Iiad  given 
great  eclat  and  publicity  to  his  fame  ;  that  heroic  achievements,  in 
the  field  of  battle,  amidst  scenes  of  bloodshed  and  carnage,  often 
gaye^  to  popular  applause  a  more  fascinating*  impulse  on  public 
opinion,  than  the  profoundest  display  of  wisdom.,  or  ardency  of 
patriotism  in  the  councils  of  the  cabinet.  They  knew  that  he 
had  not  acquired  that  poUtical  celebrity  in  the  councils  of  the  re- 
public, that  could  entitle  him  to  the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  tp 
which  he  presumptuously  aspired  ;  it  would,  therefore,  create  a 
debt  of  gratitude  from  him,  to  reward  those  with  his  patronage, 
who  should  .be  the  means  of  aiding  iiim  in  the  acquisition  of  it. 
But  it  IS  beheved  the  people  of  the  United  States  never  had  any 
suck  knowledge  of  his  character,  as  would  have  designated  him 
for  the  office  of  president  Those  who  have  heretofore  supported 
him,  have  been  fascinated  with  a  recollection  of  his  heroic 
achievements;  the  history  of  Ms  real  character  either  inpubhc  or 
private  life,  has  been  studiously  concealed  from  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  They  have  been  impetuously  incited  by  false  no- 
tions of  gratitude  or  admiration,  and  by  the  crafty  machinations  of 
designing  politicians,  to  make  an  effort  to  elevate  a  rash  and  inju- 
dicious man,  to  a  place  which  belongs  only  to  tried  experience  and 
capacity,  and  unsullied  virtue. 

But  it  is  a  consolation  to  believe,  that  there  is  yet  a  redeeming 
power  in  a  great  majority  of  the  people  ;  there  is  enough  of  re"^- 
flection  and  consideration,  to  counteract  the  weak  and  wicked  de- 
signs of  the  few,  and  their  devoted  followers.  If  their  suffrage  is 
again  asked  to  aid  m  the  elevation  of  Gen.  Jackson  to  the  first 
office  of  their  country,  they  will  be  impelled  to  say  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Mr.  Clay:  the  candidate,  however  illustrious  he  may  be, 
must  present  some  other  title  than  the  blood  stained  laurels,  gath- 
ered in  the  field  of  battle,  however  glorious. 

These  remarks  are  not  intended  to  attach  disrespect  to  the  pro» 


I  '^<-^  1 

tession  of  arms,  or  to  the  character  of  a  soldier ;  military  attain- 
ments, when  accompanied  with  other  requisite  qualifications,  may 
be  a  reason  for  civil  promotion;  and  when  eminently  displayed  in  de- 
fence of  our  country,  ought  to  be  justly  and  liberally  rewarded. 
And  the  people  of  the  United  States  have  evinced  a  disposition  to 
bestow  such  rewards.*  But  there  is,  however,  always  danger 
that  in  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  their  liberality,  they  may  in- 
judiciously confer  unappropriate  honors.  It  would  be  a  danger- 
ous precedent  to  reward  heroism  with  the  chief  executive  power, 
however  gloriously  it  may  have  been  displayed.  Neither  can  we 
be  too  jealous  'of  any  man,  who,  by  the  eclat  of  military  exploits 
in  the  field,  discovers  an  ardent  ambition  of  elevating  himself  to 
the  summit  of  civil  power. 

Should  the  name  of  Andrew  Jackson  be  continued  on  the  list 
of  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  a  most  interesting  crisis  in  the 
history  of  our  republic  will  be  presented.  The  hereditary  dynas- 
ties of  princes  are  looking  with  extreme  solicitude  to  the  result  of 
the  eifort  to  perpetuate  a  government  of  laws,  and  of  rational  lib- 
erty in  America.  Should  the  conduct  of  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,  in  the  choice  of  their  chief  magistrate,  be  influenced 
by  wisdom,  and  by  the  dictates  of  a  pure  and  enlightened  patriot- 
ism, it  will  evince  ift  them  a  capacity  for  self  government,  which 
has  never  yet  been  exhibited  on  earth  ;  and  may  be  the  means  of 
awakening  from  the  slumber  of  ages,  the  spirit  of  freedom  on  the 
eastern  continent,  and  of  prostrating  in  the  dust,  the  thrones  of 
tyrants  throughout  the  world. 

Americans  have  been  habitually  inclined  to  adopt  the  sentiment 
of  the  poet,  in  thinking  all  other  republics  mortal  but  their  own  ; 
and  to  believe  that  a  constitution  written  on  paper,  will  preserve 
their  liberties  entire,  amidst  the  conflicts  of  factions,  of  passion, 
of  vice  and  error  ;  while  some  of  them  are  making  an  effort  to 
commit  the  guardianship  of  this  constitution  to  a  man,  who  has 
had  no  scruples  in  violating  its  most  essential  provisions.  This 
political  paradox  in  their  conduct,  is  a  demonstration,  that  the 
spirit  and  manners  of  the  people  has  degenerated  ;  or  that  the  do- 
minion of  political  delusion  has  commenced  its  progress  over  rea- 
son, truth,  and  common  sense. 

If  the  political  character  or  conduct  of  Mr.  Adams,  or  the 
measures  of  his  administration,  are  impolitic,  or  partial  and  une- 
qual in  their  operation,  let  them  be  publicly  investigated  and  ex- 
posed.    His  supporters  are  ready  to  meet  the  strictest  scrutiny  of 

*  Aftei  the  close  of  the  war,  in  1815,  On,  .Tackson  was  continued  in  command 
\mtil  the  army  was  disbanded  in  1821  while  lie  enjoyed  an  undisturbed  retire- 
ment, with  the  exception  of  a  few  months  active  military  service,  for  six  years; 
during  which  time  he  received  neaily  fifty  thousand  dollars,  as  appears  by  ac- 
counts communicated  to  Congress.  This  is  the  man  who,  we  are  told,  retired 
like  Cincitinatus  and  Washington,  and  converted  his  sword  into  a  plou^-hshare. — 
After  the  army  was  disbanded,  he  received  three  months  pay,  while  ne  was  re- 
<;eiving  a  salary  of  a  new  and  honorable  appointment  as  governor  of  Florida. 
Some  of  the  most  important  acts  of  his  administration  under  this  last  appointment 
>vere  repealed  by  Congress,  in  1822,  as  manifestly  unconstitutional. 


L  ~i  J 

his  opposers  ;  and  he  himself,  so  far  from  shrinking  from  an  inves- 
tigation of  his  character,  either  in  public  or  private  life,  earnestly 
solicits  it.  But  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  have  unfortunately 
attached  entire  discredit  to  their  own  attestations  on  this  subject, 
by  avowing  themselves  to  be  actuated  first  of  all  by  motives  of 
hostility,  and  a  fixed  resolution  to  oppose  his  administration, 
whether  it  should  be  wise  or  impolitic.  No  other  credit  is  there- 
fore due  to  any  thing  they  may  allege  against  Mr.  Adams,  or  his 
administration,  than  could  be  to  a  witne?s,  who  when  called  upon 
to  testify  in  a  court  of  justice,  should  declare  his  resolution  to 
testify  against  one  of  the  parties,  whether  he  knew  any  thing  re- 
lating to  the  cause  or  not. 

Whenever  a  determination  is  discoverable  among  a  few  lead- 
ing men  in  congress,  to  oppose  a  chief  magistrate  and  his  admin- 
istration, at  its  very  commencement,  it  evinces  a  political  deprav- 
ity, and  that  destitution  of  republican  virtue,  which  should  en- 
stamp  on  their  character,  and  that  of  their  devoted  adherents, 
disgrace  and  dishonor  ;  and  excite  the  jealousy  of  the  people,  not 
against  the  administration,  but  against  them. 

In  the  political,  as  well  as  in  the  natural  and  moral  world,  the 
principle,  that  like  causes  will  produce  like  effects,  is  equally  im- 
portant and  true.  A  single  event  which  may  appear  inconsidera- 
ble in  itself,  may,  in  the  progress  of  things,  occasion  a  succession 
of  important  events,  which  might  change  the  condition  of  a  whole 
nation.  One  rash  and  injudicious  act ;  one  ill  concerted  project 
of  a  chief  magistrate  ;  such  as  might  be  expected  from  a  man  ac- 
tuated by  violent  passions,  an  impetuous  temper,  and  lawless  dis- 
position, might  inflict  evils  on  our  republic,  which  an  age  of  wis- 
dom could  not  remove. 

As  well  might  it  be  expected  that  the  eruptions  of  Vesuvius 
would  send  down  from  its  summit  the  fertilizing  aliment  of  plants, 
and  deck  the  fields  with  flowers,  as  that  the  councils  of  a  cabinet, 
produced  by  such  a  man  as  Andrew  Jackson,  should  preserve 
the  tranquillity,  and  promote  the  honor  and  welfare  of  our  coun- 
try. 

The  laws  which  govern  human  actions  and  passions,  have  hith- 
erto decided  the  progress  and  fate  of  republics  ;  and  the  same  ci- 
vil commotions  and  disorders  which  rent  asunder  the  bonds  of 
union,  and  overturned  the  civil  constitution  of  the  Romans,  a 
thousand  years  ago,  would  have  the  same  effect  on  our  own,  at 
the  present  time. 

The  character  of  the  chief  magistrate  has  marked  the  progress 
,o?  political  degeneracy,  and  decided  the  fate  of  republics,  both  in 
ancient  and  modern  times.  Sylla,  a  Roman  general,  by  his  mili- 
tary achievements  alone,  acquired  the  popularity  and  the  power, 
by  means  of  which,  he  put  an  end  to  the  Roman  commonwealth  ; 
and  after  him  a  long  succession  of  military  chieftains,  triumphed, 
by  the  sword,  over  its  expiring  liberties.  Whether  they  were  aid- 
ed by  the  deluded  populace,  in  their  elevation  to  the  chief  com- 
mand, or  forced  their  way  to  it,  by  their  courage  and  physical 


>irciigiii ;  the  re.-ult  was  the  same  ;  and  they  n ere  never  wanting 
,  in  pretences  for  breaking  down  every  distinction  between  a  gov- 
ernment of  laws,  and  that  of  men  ;  or  between  a  free  republic, 
and  a  military  despotism. 

If  we  would  avoid  the  fate  of  other  free  states,  the  people  must 
awake  to  their  duty  ;  they  must  arise  in  the  majesty  of  their  virtue 
and  guard  every  avenue  to  the  citadel  of  our  liberties,  against  the 
first  approaches  of  lawless  ambition 

There  is  nothing  in  the  form  of  our  civil  constitution,  or  in  the 
peculiar  disposition  of  the  American  people,  which  can  change 
the  operation  of  the  old  and  trite  principle  in  philosophy,  that 
like  causes  will  produce  like  effects  in  the  political  state  of  man, 
as  well  as  in  the  natural  world.  Should  a  general  degeneracy  in 
the  manners  and  spirit  of  the  people  prevail,  they  will  disregard 
their  rights — ^^passion  will  triumph  over  reason,  and  civil  liberty 
will  perish. 

There  are  already  too  many  among  us  who  seek,  and  who  acquire 
the  confidetice  of  the  people  withdfet  deserving  it ;  and  who,  while- 
they  would  be  dictators  of  the  public  will,  would  rather  see  the  last 
vestige  of  republican  liberty  in  ruins,  than  yield  their  pretonded  claims 
to  preferment  and  to  power. 

Examples  taken  from  past  time  have  more  power  over  the  minds 
of  men  than  any  of  the  age  in  which  they  live.  What  we  see  grows 
familiar.  It  is  because  the  people  .have  been  seen  to  indulge  an  ha- 
bitual inclination  to  place  a  blind  confidence  in  their  favorites,  who 
are  often  the  impostors  of  pretended  patriotism;  because  the  follies 
and  vices  which  have  been  engendered  in  the  conflicts  of  party  dis- 
sension, have  grown  familiar ;  that  we  have  among  us  some  indivi- 
duals, who  have  ventured  to  hazard  an  attempt,  to  impose  on  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States  a  chief  magistrate,  who  has  exhibited  to  the 
world  a  character  opposed  to  every  moral  and  political  principle,  which 
should  constitute  the  basis  of  rational  liberty.  Had  such  a  man  as 
Andrew  Jackson  been  nominated  for  the  Presidency  twenty  years  ago, 
with  no  other  claims  on  the  people's  confidence  than  he  now  presents, 
it  v.'ould  have  excited  an  emotio  •  of  general  indignation,  and  con- 
signed his  advocates  to  deserved  reproach  and  contempt. 

It  is  believed  there  may  yet  be  virtue  enough  in  the  people  to  pre- 
vent the  fatal  effects  of  a  single  corrupt  and  injudicious  choice  of  a 
chief  magistrate.  But  should  the  evils  inflicted  by  such  an  event, 
not  prove  fatal  or  perpetual,  it  will  hereafter  encourage  those,  who,  in 
pursuit  of  power  and  j^ersonal  preferment,  will  be  willing  to  hazard 
the  experiment  of  any  innovation  or  change. 

The  evils  which  prove  fatal  to  republics,  may  be  expected  to  be  , 
gradual  in  their  operation,  so  as  not  to  excite  alarm  at  any  particular 
period,  until  the  spirit  and  manners  of  the  people  become  so  degene- 
rated, and  their  condition  so  depressed,  that  "their  rights  will  expire 
or  must  revive  in  a  convulsion."  That  will  be  the  most  important 
period  in  our  history,  when  it  shall  be  recorded  of  us,  that  our  reason 
and  wisdom  have  triumphed  over  passion  and  prejudice ;  not  that  ^x*- 
riod  when  by  our  courage  we  purchased  liberty ;  but  when  by  our 
virtue  we  cnstamped  on  its  existence  immortal  duratioji. 


[2o  j 

There  are  important  reasons  arising  iVom  tlie  spirit  of  the  constitu- 
tion and  the  poHcy  of  our  republic,  which  imperiously  urge  us  to  the 
re-election  of  a  chief  magistrate  who  has  merited   public  'confidence. 
The  provision  in  the  Constitution  for  the  re-eligibility  of  a  President 
was  intended  to  secure  the  privilege  of  continuing  the  advantages  of 
an  administration  which  had  advanced  the  interest  and  honor  of  the 
country  :     It  also  furnishes  strong  motives  to  the  President  in  oflice, 
to  act  with  firmness  and  integrity,  from  a  consciousness  that  by  de- 
serving the  confidence  of  the  people,  he  will  be  more  likely  to  secure 
the  reward  of  a  re-election.     It  will  be  admitted  that  the  desire  of  re- 
ward is  one  of  the  strongest  incentives  of  human  conduct ;  and  also 
that  the  best  security,  for  the  fidelity  of  mankind  is  to  make  interest 
coincide  with  duty.     It  must  be  acknowledged  to  be  the  duty  of- the 
people  of  the  United  States,  to  establish  for  themselves  a  character  for 
stability  and  fidelity,  that  will  secure  to  the  President  in  office  his  re- 
election, as  the  reward  which  will  be  due  for  the  integrity,  the  firm- 
ness, and  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  which  may  distinguish  his  ad- 
ministration;    and  there  can  be  no   stronger  incentive  to  the  good 
conduct  of  the  chief  magistrate,  than  a  pledge  of  this  reward  ;  neither 
can  there  be  any  other  provision  for  this  pledge,  but  in  the  fidehty, 
the  patriotism,  and  the  stability  of  the  people. 

If  the  chief  magistrate  has  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office  so  as 
to  claim  the  general  approbation,  and  is  excluded  from  a  re-e'ection  at 
the  end  of  four  years,  the  country  is  thereby  deprived  of  the  advan- 
tages of  his  experience.     The  truth  of  the  adage  that  experience  is 
the  parent  of  wisdom  is  admitted  by  the  wise,  as  well  as  the  simple  ; 
and  is  perhaps  a  more  essential  and  desirable  quality  in  that  officer,' 
than  any  other.     The  measures,  and  the  geneml  policy  of  a  new  ad- 
ministration, very  soon  gain  that  publicity  which  enable  the  people  to 
form  correct  viev/s  of  its  character.     And  if  it  is  such  as  to  evince 
the  wisdom  and  the  integrity  of  the  chief  magistrate,  why  should  the 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  it,  be  put  at  hazard,. by  changing  that 
officer,  and  others  which  would  be  the  result  of  such  a  change ;  and 
measures  too  which  have  met  the  general  approbation  ?     For  it  can- 
not be  expected  that  when  the  authors  of  an  administration  are  chano-- 
ed  measures  will  remain  uniform;    especially  when   extraordiuanr 
effiarts  have  been  made  to  effect  the  change ;  it  may  be  expected  the 
new  administrators    would  be  ambitious   of  some  other  disfinction, 
than  that  of  continuing  the  operations  of  a  policy,  marked  out  by  their 
predecessors.     Neither  could  the  right  of  electing  a  new  President  at 
the  end  of  four  years,  be  intended  to  equalize  the  honors  and  emolu- 
ments of  the  office  among  those  of  equal  merit.     The  people  could 
expect  to  derive  no  advantage  from  excluding  the  chief  magistrate 
from  a  re-election,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  one  whose  qu'alifica- 
tions  could  notj^e  thought  superior  to  those  of  his  predecessor.     The 
right  of  changing  the  chief  magistrate,  and  with  him,  the  other  im- 
portant officers  in  the  government,  was  also  intended  to  secure  the 
people,  against  the  evils  of  a  weak  or  corrupt  administration.     When 
such  evils  do  not  exist,  but  on  the  contrary,  the  administration  is  dis- 
tmguished  for  talents,  for  integrity  and  wisdom,  neither  expediency  or 


[  24  j 

sound  policy  can  be  urged  in  favor  of  a  change.  By  an  unnecessar)', 
wanton  and  corrupt  exercise  of  the  right  of  changing  the  chief  magis- 
trate, provided  by  the  Constitution,  the  object  of  the  provision  might 
be  defeated. 

If  at  the  expiration  of  the  first  term  of  the  Presidential  office,  we 
exclude  by  our  suffi'ages  the  chief  magistrate,  who  has  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  official  duties,  apparently  pursued  the  best  interest  of 
tlie  country,  and  in  every  part  of  his  administration  displayed  the  cha- 
racter of  an  enhghtened,  wise,  and  independent  magistrate,  we  do 
thereby  in  effect  annul  an  important  provision  in  the  Constitution. 
When  once  the  people  shall  exclude  by  their  suffi-ages  a  wise  and 
meritorious  chief  magistrate,  from  a  re-election,  it  will  hereafter  be 
urged  as  a  precedent,  the  influence  of  which  may  by  habit,  come  to 
operate  with  the  force  of  law  on  succeeding  elections. 

If  the  principles  of  a  wise  policy  not  only  admit,  but  require  that 
such  an  officer  should  be  re-elected,  and  the  people  are  led  by  the 
insidious  arts  of  unprincipled  and  aspiring  partisans,  into  a  habit  of 
disregarding  such  principles,  the  great  object  of  the  provision  of  re- 
eligibility,  will  be  defeated,  and  become  only  a  dead  letter.  The 
provision  itself  had  by  far  better  be  annulled,  by  an  amendment  of 
the  Constitution,  than  that  the  people  by  the  force  of  habit,  should 
acquire  a  disposition  to  disregard  the  important  objects  it  was  intended 
to  secure. 

If  we  exclude  from  a  re-election,  a  man  so  eminently  qualified  for 
the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  as  Mr.  Adams,  the  present  incumbent 
is  acknowledged  to  be,  both  as  to  his  political  science,  and  the  wis- 
dom, integrity,  and  dignity  of  his  character;  what  pledge  for  the 
fidelity  and  constancy  of  the  people  can  any  exertion  of  merit,  by 
those  who  may  succeea  him  in  that  office,  ever  hereafter  expect  to  se- 
cure ?  It  will  form  a  precedent  in  the  annals  of  our  history,  which, 
although  it  will  not  inevitably  exclude  the  reward  of  a  re-election, 
from  those  who  may  hereafter  most  deserve  it ;  yet  it  will  render  the 
acquisition  of  it  so  precarious,  as  to  furnish  of  itself,  no  incentive 
whatever  to  good  conduct.  We  could  not  expect  a  man  er:stamped 
with  human  frailty  as  all  men  are,  to  undertake  arduous  and  exten- 
sive measures  for  the  public  good,  which  would  require  much  more 
time  to  perfect  them,  than  a  single  prasidential  term  would  admit, 
when  he  had  reason  to  believe  from  the  inconstancy  of  the  people, 
that  before  he  could  complete  them,  he  should  have  to  commit  them  as 
well  as  his  reputation  to  others,  who  might  be  both  unequal  and  un- 
friendly to  the  task. 

We  have  had  great  cause  for  exultation,  that  a  disposition  has  here- 
tofore so  extensively  prevailed,  to  establish  a  character  tor  constancy 
and  fidelity,  which  has  been  evinced  by  the  re-election  of  our  chief 
magistrates  except  in  one  instance.  There  has  been,  it  is  true,  an 
opposition  to  re-elections,  hut  it  has  been  founded  on  different  princi- 
ples, and  excited  among  the  people  by  different  motives,  from  those 
which  actuate  the  opposition  to  General  Jackson.  No  candidate,  ex- 
cept him,  has  ever  yet  been  proposed  for  the  Presidency,  whose  cha- 
r?tcter  was  such  as  to  exclude  all  reasonable  expectations,  that  bis  adr 


[  25  ] 

ministration  might  promote  the  interest  and  the  honor  of  the  republic. 
The  opposition  to  other  candidates  has  arisen  either  from  a  diversity 
of  opinion  relative  to  their  political  views  and  principles,  or  from  local 
considerations,  either  of  which,  it  is  believed,  do  not  furnish  the  prin- 
ciple ground  of  opposition  to  General  Jackson.  His  opposers  are 
well  agreed,  that  he  does  not  possess  a  single  qualification,  suitable 
for  the  office  of  chief  magistrate.  Even  his  -military  talents  and 
prowess,  under  the  direction  of  a  temper  and  disposition  like  his,  ren- 
der it  improper  and  impolitic,  to  intrust  him  with  the  chief  command 
of  a  military  district. 

But  however  less  exceptionable/ the  character  of  a  new  proposed 
candidate  might  be ;  should  the  different  candidates  have  equal  claims 
on  the  confidence  of  the  people  ;  the  evils  inevitably  resulting  frcm  a 
contested  Presidential  election,  are  so  well  known,  and  so  deplorable 
in  theii*  consequences,  that  no  effort,  which  may  be  consistent  with 
the  maxims  of  a  wise  policy,  should  be  wanting  to  avoid  them. 

The  experiment  which  is  making  in  the  United  States,  of  electing 
a  chief  magistrate,  is  not  the  first  that  has  been  made  in  the  world ; 
and  what  has  heretofore  been  its  operation  and  end  is  well  known. 
Directed  by  a  few  corrupt,  ambitious  and  desperate  individuals,  it  has 
produced  the  greatest  misfortunes,  and  finally  the  rum  of  other  re- 
publics. 

The  transcendant  honors  and  privileges  necessarily  appertinent  to 
the  office,  present  a  prize,  which  may  be  expected  to  excite  the  emula- 
tion, and  inspire  the  most  ardent  ambition  of  different  candidates, 
v/hile  the  extensive  patronage  attending  success,  brings  into  hostile 
array,  a  formidable  host  of  contending  partisans.  The  press,  intend- 
ed as  a  resplendent  beacon,  to  point  men  to  the  light  of  truth,  is  pros- 
tituted to  the  diminutive  and  degrading  views  of  self-preferment. 
Every  sordid  passion  and  paltry  prejudice  is  enlisted  in  the  contest. 
Tlie  diverse  attachments,  enmities,  hopes  and  fears  of  leading  men 
in  community  are  excited  ;  who  do  not  scruple  to  sacrifice  the  national 
tranquillity,  to  the  purposes  of  personal  advantage  or  gratification. 
The  malignant  passions  are  set  on  fire  ;  and  the  people  are  subjected 
to  the  impulses  of  rage,  resentment,  jealousy,  avarice,  and  every  irre- 
gular and  violent  propensity.  The  spirit  which  generates  these  evils, 
"  distracts  the  public  councils  and  enfeebles  the  public  administration ; 
agitates  the  community  with  false  alarms^;  kindles  the  animosity  of 
one  part  against  another,  end  often  occasions  riot,  violence,  and  insur- 
*^i-ection.'' 

"  The  domination  of  one  party  over  another,  incited  by  a  spirit  of 
revenge,  has  in  different  periods  of  the  repubhcs,  often  inflicted  the 
most  horrid  enormities,  and  has  itself  proved  a  frightful  despotism." 

These  are  some  of  the  evils  which  result  from  a  contested  Presi- 
dential election ;  and  so  cormpting  is  their  influence  on  the  public 
morals;  so  degrading  to  the  dignity  of  national  character;  and  so 
deleterious  to  the  permanency  of  republican  liberty,  that  theyJhave  in 
other  ages  of  the  republics,  heretofore,  disposed  the  minds  of  men 
eventually  to  seek  repose  in  the  absolute  power  of  an  individual. 

The  people  have  the  power  of  arresting  the  fatal  progress  of  these 

D 


I  26  ] 

evils ;  by  their  habitual  constancy  and  lidehty  to  the  chiet  magistrate, 
who  is  wise  and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties,  they  can 
discourage  all  overtures,  and  set  at  defiance  every  effort  to  introduce 
a  new  candidate  to  that  office,  when  the  essential  interests  of  the  coun- 
try do  not  require  them.  The  great  mass  of  the  people  have  no  inte- 
rest individually  m  the  change  of  a  President  or  the  administration. 
The  provision  in  the  Constitution  for  a  re-election,  was  not  intended 
to  provide  the  emoluments  of  office,  for  a  few  aspiring  individuals,  at 
the  end  of  every  four  years  ;  but  to  secure  the  people  from  the  evils  of 
a  contested  election,  when  they  might  be  so  fortunate  as  to  have  a 
chief  magistrate  who  should  merit  a  continuance  of  their  confidence. 

We  may  expect  there  will  be  a  perpetual  succession  of  aspiring  and 
rapacious  expectants  of  Presidential  patronage,  who  will  unceasingly 
assail  the  constancy  and  fidelity  of  the  people. 

The  eftbrt  by  which  provision  was  made  for  a  constitutional  mode 
of  electing  a  chief  magistrate,  was  a  more  perfect  exhibition  of  national 
wisdom  and  deliberation  than  the  world  had  ever  seen.  It  remains 
for  the  people  to  evince  by  their  conduct,  that  they  will  stedfastly  pur- 
sue the  great  objects  it  was  intended  to  secure. 

But  it  cannot  be  concealed  from  the  world,  that  a  determined  and 
desperate  effort  is  making  to  defeat  these  objects. 

Never  did  the  condition  of  our  government  more  imperiously  urge>^ 
the  people  to  a  re-election  of  any  chief  magistrate  since  the  days  of 
Washington,  than  that  of  JNIr.  Adams.  It  will  be  recollected,  that  the 
two  great  poUtical  parties,  heretofore  known  by  the  distinguishing 
names  vyf  federahsts  and  republicans,  were  at  the  election  of  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson so  equally  divided,  that  he  obtained  a  majority  of  only  a  single 
vote  ;  yet  notwithstanding  the  strong  prejudices  excited  by  party  zeal 
at  that  time,  and  when  Mr,  John  Q.  Adams  was  reputed  to  have  been 
attached  to  the  party  opposed  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  re- 
ceived from  him,  as  has  been  before  observed,  the  appointment  of  mi- 
nister plenipotentiary  to  Russia.  The  violence  of  party  zeal  which 
has  heretofore  consigned  to  opprobrious  censure  every  other  individual 
of  political  distinction,  could  never  diminish  in  him  the  confidence  of 
any  administration,  nor  induce  any  one  of  our  chief  magistrates  to 
dispense  with  his  services ;  with  such  high  consideration  did  they 
view  his  capacity  and  his  qualifications  for  public  employment,  and 
such  the  purity  and  integrity  of  his  character.  He  seems  to  have 
been  destined  in  the  course  of  human  events,  to  possess  the  confidence 
of  those  two  political  parties,  which  heretofore  hac'  rent  asunder  the 
bonds  of  our  union  ;  and  to  check  the  fatal  progress  of  those  evils, 
engendered  by  party  dissensions,  under  the  insignificant  distinctions  of 
mere  names.  So  hopeless  has  been  the  prosj3ect  of  a  successful  op- 
position  to  his  political  character,  that  it  never  has  been  attempted  un- 
til it  was  commenced  by  a  few  individuals  of  desperate  ambition,  who 
have  hoped  by  the  delusive  influence  of  heroic  fame,  by  the  insanity 
of  enthusiasm,  and  false  notions  of  gratitude  to  a  military  chieftain,  to 
drive  him  from  the  councils  of  the  cabinet,  and  thereby  acquire  for 
themselves  places  of  power  and  consequence,  from  wliich  reason, 
truth  and  justice  would  exclude  them.     It  has  been  reserved  for  the 


advocates  of  Andrew  Jackson  to  make  the  discovery  that  John  Q, 
Adams  was  not  duly  quahfied  for  political  concerns,  but  was  a  wick- 
ed and  designing  man  ;  and  that  Andrew  Jackson  was  the  ihan  above 
all  others  the  most  suitable  to  reform  and  save  the  administration  of 
our  government  from  political  degeneracy.  Notwithstanding  such 
men  as  Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison  and  Munroe,  together  with 
those  illustrious  char  icters  who  have  directed  the  destinies  of  our  re- 
public for  thirty  six  years,  while  it  has  been  elevated  to  an  unexampled 
height  of  prosperity ;  although  this  august  assemblage  of  men,  who 
would  have  honored  and  blessed  the  councils  of  any  country  in  any 
age  of  the  world,  have  been  of  the  opinion  that  he  was  pre-eminently 
qualified,  for  the  most  important  offices  in  the  administration ;  yet  it 
has  been  discovered  of  late  by  the  few  individuals  who  projected  the 
nomination  of  Andrew  Jackson,  that  this  same  iMr.  Adams  is,  and 
has  been  an  unwise  man,  and  a  dangerous  statesman. 

But  why  have  not  these  honorable  gentlemen,  distinguished  for  pa- 
triotism as  they  declare  themselves  to  be,  until  now  divulged  the  result 
of  their  discoveries,  to  the  people,  and  thereby  endeavoured  to  correct 
the  devious  tendency  of  public  opinion  ?  Was  it  not  because  the  pe- 
riod had  not  arrived  when  they  were  prepared  to  put  in  their  claims 
to  presidential  patronage ;  because  they  were  not  before  ready  and 
anxious  to  aid  with  their  politieal  services,  the  councils  of  the  cabinet ; 
because  they  had  found  no  man  before  Andrew  Jackson  who  had  en- 
couraged them  confidently  to  expect,  that  he  would  open  the  door  to 
every  avenue  whicn  might  lead  to  the  consummation  of  their  aspiring- 
views  ;  that  no  one  but  him  had  given  such  ample  assurances  that 
every  officer  in  the  administration,  should  be  compelled  to  yield  his 
place  to  them  and  their  favorites. 

That  this  would  be  the  first  truits  of  his  administration,  should  he 
accede  to  the  Presidency,  his  advocates  Ijave  exultingly  proclaimed. 

Neither  have  we  any  reason  to  doubt  that  such  would  be  the  result. 
We  may  well  suppose  that  the  man  who  would  not  admit  the  laws  of 
the  land,  nor  the  obligations  of  moral  rectitude  and  justice,  as  his  rule 
of  action,  when  opposed  to  the  dictates  of  his  will,  would  not  forbear 
to  take  a  signal  vengeance  on  those  who  had  been  instrumental  in  pro- 
tracting the  event,  which  is  to  consummate  the  first  object  of  his  wishes. 
It  would  be  in  perfect  accordance  with  every  public  act  of  his  life,  to 
divest  of  power  any  and  every  individual  who  had  presumed  to  ques- 
tion his  merit,  or  oppose  his  designs. 

But  preposterous  as  is  the  project  of  General  Jackson's  nomina- 
tion ;  and  however  diminutive  the  number,  and  improper  the  political 
views  of  its  authors,  they  would  now^  sanction  its  expediency,  by  the 
number  of  their  proselytes.  Can  efforts,  say  they,  which  have  beeu 
encouraged,  by  so  large  a  portion  of  the  people,  be  considered  im- 
provident or  inexi)edipnt  ?  The  man  who  should  consider  this  an  in- 
explicable paradox,  would  betray  his  entire  ignorance  of  the  political 
character  of  man,  as  it  has  been  exhibited  through  the  whole  history 
of  republics.  The  most  abandoned  tyrants  that  have  heretofore  con- 
signed republican  liberty  to  the  dominion  of  despotism,  have  owed 
theit  elevation  to  the  people. 


L2S] 

It  has  been  observed  that  a  large  portion  of  the  people,  and  those 
too  reputed  as  honest  as  any,  were  too  tbnd  of  their  own  ease  and 
peace,  to 'trouble  themselves  much  with  public  affairs,  and  were  in  the 
habit  of  yielding  their  political  conduct  to  the  dictation  of  certain 
favorites.  But  the  moti^'es  by  which  favorite  leaders  are  actuated  are 
often  improper,  and  not  known  to  the  people.  This  inattention  to  the 
character  and  motives  of  popular  leaders  has  often  been  attended 
with  the  most  fatal  and  disastrous  consequences,  t  The  people 
tlu'oughout  the  world  have  always  possessed  both  the  physical  and 
moral  power  of  establishing  for  themselves  free  constitutions,  and  sys- 
tems of  rational  liberty ;  the  use  they  have  made  of  this  privilege  is 
but  too  well  known ;  they  have  permitted  their  popular  leaders  to  lead 
them  on  from  one  error  to  another,  till  at  last  they  have  been  forced 
to  consign  their  liberties  to  the  dominion  of  a  tyrant.  It  will  be  re- 
collected, that  Aaron  Burr  was  once  a  powerful  and  popular  leader, 
and  that  an  effort  was  made  to  elect  him  chief  magistrate ;  and  be- 
cause Alexander  Hamilton,  who  was  at  that  time  unpopular,  warned 
the  people  that  he  was  a  dangerous  man,  it  cost  him  his  life  ;  and  that 
Aaron  Burr  not  long  afterwards,  had  a  bill  found  against  him  on  a 
charge  of  high  treason  against  the  United  States. 

We,  my  fellow  citizens,  must  learn  the  qualifications  of  a  candidate 
for  the  Presidency,  from  a  more  pure  source,  than  from  those  who  set 
themselves  up  for  popular  leaders,  who  ai*e  actuated  by  motives  of 
interest,  which  would  discredit  theii'  testimony  in  a  Court  oC  Justice, 
in  a  question  which  involved  the  right  to  a'  single  dollar. 

There  are  too  many  of  our  useful  and  respectable  citizens,  who  en- 
gage in  a  contested  election,  from  motives  of  envy,  or  jealousy,  or 
from  some  personal  prejudice  ;  not  because  they  believe  the  welfare 
of  the  country  requires  that  they  should  oppose  the  proposed  candi- 
date ;  but  because  they  would  oppose  certain  individuals,  who  are  his 
friends  and  advocates  ;  there  are  too  many  of  our  citizens,  who  ir\- 
dulge  the  little  ambition  of  being  instrumental  in  appointing  a  ruler 
for  those  over  whom  they  would  exercise  some  superiority;  such  is 
the  love  ff  power,  if  they  cannot  be  rulers  themselves:,  they  would 
rule  by  proxy,  and  would  rather  belong  to  the  predominant  party  in  a 
contested  election,  than  to  be  the  known  advocates  of  a  candidate 
against  whom  there  is  no  opposition.  And  it  is  very  certain  too,  how- 
ever much  to  be  regretted,  that  too  many  of  our  citizens  are  destitute 
of  that  information,  which  might  enable  them  to  detect  the  arts  of  in- 
trigue and  deception  with  which  they  are  continually  assailed  by  de- 
signing men  ;  and  what  is  more  deplorable,  are  profligate  in  their 
manners,  and  abandoned  to  their  vices.  From  this  view  of  the  cha- 
racter rmd  improper  motives  which  govern  the  conduct  of  many  of^ 
our  citizens it  is  easy  t)  see  how  popular  leaders  of  pro- 
fligate manners  and  desjierate  ambition,  may  turn  the  laws  which 
govern  human  actions  and  passions  to  the  purposes  of  their  own  ele- 
vation. Whosoever  should  conceal  from  the  contemplation  of  the 
people  these  considerations,  or  forbear  to  admonish  his  fellow-citizens 
of  their  danger  from  a  delicacy  or  dread  of  popularity,  would  be 
guilty  of  a  weakness,  if  not  a  vice.     When  votes  are  given  under  the 


uillueuce  ot'  passion,  or  may  be  obtained  Jjy  fraud,  falseiiood,  bribery, 
intrigue,  and  every  species  of  corruption^  their  number  furnishes  no 
evidence  whatever  of  the  merit  of  a  candidate ;  and  against  the  means 
of  prostituting  the  right  of  suftrage,  no  civil  constitution  can  effectual- 
ly provide. 

It  is  said  that  a  man  cannot  obtain  the  votes  of  the  freemen  for  an 
important  otfice,  unless  he  becomes  popular.  This  is  indeed  true. 
But  there  are  two  ways  to  obtain  popularity ;  one  by  meriting  the 
confidence  of  the  public,  by  a  wise  and  faithful  discharge  of  the  va- 
rious and  important  duties  of  public  or  private  life  ;  by  his  attachment 
to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  his  country,  and  a  sacred  regard  to 
the  precepts  of  a  pure  morality ;  when  by  the  general  course  of  his 
conduct  his  merit  becomes  conspicuous,  his  popularity  commences, 
and  follows  him.  But  there  is  another  way  of  becoming  popular, 
which  owes  its  origin  to  the  councils  of  a  caucus,  or  secret  meetmg, 
held  for  the  purposes  of  political  intrigue — the  general  object  of  which 
is  to  render  some  individual  popular,  who  may  not  have  attracted  the 
attention,  or  commanded  the  confidence  of  the  public.  Men  who  de- 
rive their  popularity  from  this  source,  do  not  'rely  so  much  on  their 
merit,  for  their  elevation,  as  on  the  efforts  of  those  who  have  a  per- 
sonal interest  in  rendering  them  popular.  The  number  of  votes 
which  such  men  may  obtain,  will  depend  on  the  zeal  and  efforts  of 
their  advocates ;  who  by  unceasing  asseverations  in  their  behalf,  often 
induce  the  people  to  believe  that  those  who  can  create  so  much  ex- 
citement and  anxiety,  must  deserve  the  public  confidence.  A  volume 
might  be  filled  with  the  names  of  those  v.rho  having  acquired  their  po- 
pularity by  such  means,  have  proved  the  fatal  instruments  of  subvert- 
ing repubUcan  hberty. 

The  Siren  song  of  popularity  has  led  the  train  of  fallen  republics 
from  Nero  to  Napoleon. 

'^  Look  to  the  lessons  of  history.  During  the  late  revolution  in 
France,  after  the  people  had  got  rid  of  their  monarchy,  they  possessed 
the  power  of  elevating  to  the  fchief  magistracy  whoever  they  should 
choose.  But  was  it  an  evidence  of  the  merit  of  Robespierre  and  the 
other  tyrants  who  successively  held  the  supreme  power,  that  they  were 
raised  to  it  by  a  majority  of  the  people,  while  their  country  was  con- 
verted into  one  great  aceldema,  on  v/hich  the  blood  of  her  slaughtered 
citizens  incessantly  flowed.  The  people  of  that  devoted  republic 
were  made  to  believe  that  the.-e  tyrants  were  friends  to  republican  li- 
berty ;  but  had  to  atone  for  their  credulity  and  folly,  with  the  sacrifice 
of  fifty  of  their  heads  on  each  day,  for  about  two  years. 

Did  the  success  of  Aaron  Burr  in  obtaining  votes  for  the  Presi- 
dency, furnish  evidpuce  of  his  merit  and  qualifications  ?  But  the 
talents  of  Aaron  Burr  were  transcendantly  superior  to  Andrev>^  Jack- 
son's ;  >vhile  he  was  much  less  profligate  in  his  manners,  and  despofic 
in  his  disposition. 

Demagogues  have  always  been  ready  to  sanction  their  vices  and 
impositions,  by  the  suffrages  of  the  people,  when  they  have  no  other 
resource  for  their  popularity. 

The  result  of  the  late  Presidential  election  has  furnished  the  ad\'o- 


oates  of  Andrew  Jackson  with  arguments  in  his  defence,  which  they 
could  have  derived  from  no  other  source ;  and  on  which  they  appear 
exultmgly  to  confide.  It  is  admitted  that  he  had  a  plurahty  of  electo- 
ral votes  over  Mr.  Adams ;  but  as  there  was  not  a  majority  of  votes 
for  him,  the  votes  given  by  the  advocates  of  Mr,  Clay  could  have  had 
no  operation  in  putting  at  rest  the  Presidential  question,  unless  they 
had  been  given  to  either  Jackson  or  Adams.  TIiq  members  of  Co  i- 
gress  on  whom  the  election  devolved,  in  making  their  selection,  were 
not  bound  by  the  electorcd  votes  which  had  been  given  for  Jackson. 
The  provision  in  the  Constitution  for  the  election  of  a  President  by 
the  members  of  Congress,  when  there  shall  be  no  choice  by  the  elec- 
tors, constitutes  another  and  an  independent  board  of  electors ;  and 
it  becomes  the  duty  of  this  board  to  act  independently  of  all  other  in- 
fluence, than  that  of  the  obligation  impo"sed  on  them  by  the  Constitu- 
tion. Yet  it  appears  that  an  attempt  was  made  by  the  Legislature  of 
Ker.tucky,  to  influence  their  members  in  Congress,  to  disregard  this 
obligatioR,  by  passing  a  vote  declaring  that  next  to  Mr.  Clay,  General 
Jackson  was  the  choice  of  the  people  of  Kentucky,  and  requesting  w 
their  representatives  t6  vote  for  him ;  although  the  members  of  that 
Legislature  must  have  well  known,  that  neither  the  Constitution,  nor 
any  principle  of  wise  policy,  could  sanction  such  a  measure.  As 
well  might  they  have  passed  a  vote,  declaring  what  candidate  was  the 
choice  of  the  people,  and  requestmg  the  electors  to  give  him  their 
votes. 

The  advocates  of  Gen.  Jackson  would  contend,  that  the  votes  of 
the  electors  in  those  stat*  s,  when  there  was  a  plurality  of  votes  over 
IMr.  Adams,  have  furnished  competent  evidence  that  a  majority  of  the 
freemen  in  those  states  were  opposed  to  his  election ; '  and  that  the 
members  of  congress  from  the  same  states^  were  therefore  bound,  in 
deference  to  the  wishes  of  their  constituents,  and  by  the  spirit,  though 
net  by  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  to  have  withholden  their  votes  tVora 
Mr.  Adams,  and  to  have  given  them  to  Andrew  Jackson.  This  po- 
sition cannot  be  admitted.  The  members  of ''ongress,  who  voted  for 
Mr.  Adams,  furnished  evidence  of  the  same  nature  and  degree  of  com- 
petency and  constitutionality,  that  a  majority  of  the  freemen  of  those 
states  were  in  favor  of  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams.  In  either  instance, 
the  people  had  no  other  agency  in  choosing  a  president,  but  in  giving 
their  votes  for  electors,  and  for  members  of  congress.  They  had, 
therefore,  to  confide  m  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  those  to  whom 
they  had  delegated  that  power.  It  is  not  only  difficult,  but  it  may  even 
be  impossible,  to  ascertain  whether  the  electors  or  members  of  con- 
gress, v\ill  always  make  a  choice,  which  is  conformable  to  the  wishes 
of  a  majority  of  the  freemen. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  freemen,  individually,  have  heretofore 
had  no  agency  even  in  choosing  the  electors  of  the  President;  the  le- 
gislature of  the  several  states,  having  generally  exercised  the  right  of 
choosing  them,  this  renders  it  more  uncertain  whether  the  views  of 
the  electors  respecting  the  candidate  for  the  presidency,  will  -Jways 
coincide  with  that  ol  their  constituents  ;  for  if  the  candidates  for  the 
state  legislatures  do  not  succeed  in  deceiving  their  constituents,  res- 


[  ^1  •] 

pecting  thoir  political  views,  they  may  betray  their  conlidence  in  the 
choice  of  electors.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that  the  members  of  con- 
gress, who  are  chosen  by  the  immediate  act  of  the  people,  are  more 
likely  to  know  and  to  act  according  to  the  will  of  the  freemen,  than 
electors,  of  whose  pohtical  views  they  might  have  no  knowledge,  ex^ 
cept  through  the  intervention  of  their  representatives.  Those  mem- 
bers of  congress,  who  next  to  Mr.  Clay,  preferred  Adams  to  Jackson, 
might  also  easily  have  believed,  from  the  extraordinary  interest,  and 
desperate  efforts,  to  effect  his  election,  that  his  advocates  had  resor- 
ted to  improper  and  unwarrantable  measures  to  obtain  for  liim  a  plu- 
rality of  votes  over  Mr.  Adams. 

It  is  demonstrable  by  referring  to  facts  relating  to  the  election  of 
Mr.  Adams,  that  he  is  not  only  constitutionally,  president,  but  that  he 
had  a  greater  popular  vote  than  any  of  his  competitors.  The  public 
mind  has  been  misled  on  this  subject.  By  referring  to  the  following 
table,  the  result  of  the  late  presidential  election  will  be  found  not  only 
conformable  to  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  but  to  the  spirit  of  our 
democracy. 


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In  soiit*  of  the  states  it  will  be  observed  that  the  electors  were 
chosen  by  the  legislatures.  The  popular  votes,  therefore,  in 
those  states  is  computed  from  an  ascertained  ratio  of  the  actual 
votes,  with  the  number  of  voters,  in  the  other  states  ; — they  arc 
distributed  according  to  the  proportion  of  electoral  votes  for  each 
of  the  candidates.  Thus  in  Vermont,  where  Adams  had  all  the 
votes  in  the  electoral  coUesfe,  we  have  eiven  him  the  whole  niim 


fc  > 


f  33  5 

ber  of  popular  votes,  in  New-York,  they  are  divided  according  ta 
the  electoral  votes  each  received  ;  ^nd  in  South-Carolina,  where 
Jackson  received  all  the  electoral  votes,  he  is  allowed  all  the  pop- 
ular votes.  The  result  thus  stated,  shews  that  although  Mr.  Ad- 
ams received  166112  votes  of  the  people,  he  had  but  84  votes  in 
the  electoral  colleges  ;  while  Gen.  Jackson,  with  only  153733 
popular  votes,  received  the  votes  of  99  electors.  If  the  elector- 
al votes  had  been  in  accordance  with  the  votes  of  the  people,  Mr. 
Adams  would  have  had  more  than  Jackson.  Our  opponents  com- 
plain that  Maryland  and  Illinois,  in  congress,  voted  for  Mr.  Ad- 
ams. Let  us  examine,  from  the  data  furnished,  whether  this  was 
not  exactly  as  the  people  wished.  In  Maryland,  as  the  table  shews, 
Mr.  Adams  had  14632,  and  Gen.  Jaclr.son  14623  popular  votes. 
Now,  upon  pure  democratic  principles.  Mr.  Adams  ought  to  h»ve 
got  all  the  electoral  votes  of  that  state,* and  if  the  electors  had 
been  chosen  as  in  Pennsylvania,  by  a  general  ticket,  he  would 
have  had  them  But  in  the  division  of  districts,  it  happened  that 
Gen.  Jackson,  with  a  less  number  of  popular  votes,  obtained  7 
electoral  votes.  If  Mr.  Adams  had  obtained  them,  the  result 
would  have  been  92  each.  In  Illinois,  also,  Mr.  Adams  had  1541, 
and  Gen.  Jackson  only  1272  votes  of  the  people. — Upon  the  same 
principle,  Adams  therefore  ought  to  have  had  the  electoral  votes 
of  that  state  ;  yet  Jackson  got  two,  and  he  only  one.  If  we  take 
those  two  from  the  general,  and  add  them  to  Mr.  Adams,  it  would 
then  stand  thus — Adams  94 — Jackson  90. 

There  is  another  fact  which  appears  from  this  table,  that  ought 
not  to  be  overlooked.  In  the  southern  states,  where  Gen.  Jack- 
son had  his  majorities,  the  slave  population  is  represented  in  the 
proportion  oi  Jive  to  three  whites.  Electors  were  chosen  accord- 
ingly. Five  slaves,  therefore,  had  as  much  political  power  as  three 
free  whites,  in  the  eastern  or  middle  states.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  Mr.  Adams  had  in  truth  a  very  large  plurality  of  the  free^ 
voters  of  the  United  State.?.  The  subjoined  table  will  illustrate 
this  argument,— 

E 


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From  the  above  table  it  will  appear  that  from  the  slave  holding 
states,  Jackson  received  44  and  Adams  but  4  electoral  votes  The 
senatorial  representation  is  not  taken  into  account,  as  it  would  not 
effect  the  calculation  either  way.  It  will,  also,  appear  that  of 
pure  slave  votes,  Jackson  received  nearly  1 1  and  Adams  1  only. 
Now  take  the  result  as  we  have  shewn  it  would  have  been  if  Mary- 
land and  Illinois  had  gone  entire  for  Mr.  Adams,  according  to  the 
popular  vote,  viz.  :  94  for  Adams  and  90  for  Jackson.  Extinguish 
the  c>lave  vote  altogether,  which  would  subtract,  in  whole  numbers, 
ten  from  Jackson  and  one  from  Adams.  It  would  then  stand — 
Adams  93  and  Jackson  80  only. — Thus  in  every  point  of  view,  it 
is  clear,  if  the  voice  of  the  greater  number  is  to  be  an  indication, 
that  Adams  was  the  choice  of  the  free  people  of  the  United  States. 
mirtttie  rmtvri  argument  of  hig  opponents  fa^ls  to  the  ground. 


135  ] 

Notwithstanding  the  election  of  Mr.  Adams  has  been  made,  not  on-* 
ly  according  to  the  letter,  but  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  yet  it  seems 
to  have  furnished  to  his  opponents  a  source  of  the  most  bitter  invec- 
tives ;  that  because  when  Gen.  Jackson  had  obtained  a  plurality  of 
electoral  votes  over  him,  he  should  consent  to  be  elected ;  and  that 
because  after  he  was  elected,  he  appointed  Mr.  Clay,  (who  may  be 
ranked  among  our  most  able  and  illustrious  statesmen,)  secretary  of 
state;  they  would  impose  on  the  understanding  of  our  citizens, 
by  urging,  that  fhese  circumstancr.s  have  furnished  evidence  of  his 
having  been  guilty  of  making  a  corrupt  political  bargain  with  Mr. 
Clay,  to  obtain  his  election ;  and  of  disregarding  the  principles  of  the 
constitution !  To  such  immeasurable  degrees  of  folly  and  insanity 
ai'e  the  victims  of  an  unjust  and  disappointed  ambition  impelled. 

They  would  have  the  people  believe  too,  that  Andrew  Jackson's 
plurality  of  electoral  votes  over  Mr.  Adams,  furnishes  competent  ev- 
idence of  his  popularity ;  and  that  popularity  thus  acquired,  is  an  at- 
testation of  that  merit  which  should  command  their  confidence ;  al- 
though it  has  been  proved  from  the  whole  history  of  the  civil  state, 
that  votes  may  be  procured,  by  the  arts  of  intrigue,  by  bribery,  by 
falsehood,  and  by  every  species  of  imposition  ;  and  although  great 
and  petty  tyrants,  and  pimping  demagogues,  have,  under  the  same 
specious  pretence  of  merit,  been  elevated  to  importance  and  to  pow- 
er. In  the  mist  of  this  political  delusion,  they  would  conceal  the  de- 
formity of  a  charat^ter  which  would  blacken  the  pages  of  our  history, 
and  enstamp  on  its  fortunes,  disgrace,  disorder,  and  ruin. 

If  we  would  preserve  the  purity  of  elections  to  important  offices, 
we  must  be  governed  by  truth  and  reason,  more  than  by  sounds.  If 
a  candidate,  whoever  he  may  be,  has  obtained  more  votes  than  he  mer- 
ited, instead  of  furnishing  evidence  of  his  popularity,  it  only  proves 
that  the  people  have  been  deceived.  The  question  for  a  wise  people 
to  investigate,  in  relation  to  the  election  of  a  president,  is  not  whether 
this  or  that  candidate  may  obtain  the  most  votes  ;  but  who  is  qualified 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  the  office  so  as  best  to  promote  the  public 
good.  If  local  prejudices,  personal  interests,  and  geographical  dis- 
crimination, have  a  predominant  influence  in  the  election  of  that  officer, 
we  cannot  with  confidence  calculate  on  the  tranquil  enjoyment,  or  the 
perpetuity  of  our  union. 

At  no  period  of  our  national  existence,  has  any  political  event  exci- 
ted so  extraordinary  an  interest  in  the  public  mind,  as  that  of  the 
nomination  of  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  Presidency. 

The  condition  of  the  United  States  presents  to  the  world  the  mag- 
nificent spectacle,  of  a  people  who  have,  as  it  were,  but  just  snatched 
their  liberties  from  the  ruins  of  empire,  amidst  the  thunder  of  contend- 
ing nations,  and  are  making  the  last  effort  to  secure  for  it  the  triumphs 
of  an  immortal  existence.  History,  the  monumental  record  of  nation- 
al decline  and  ruin,  exliibits  to  our  view  the  causes  of  republican  de- 
generacy, in  characters  legible  as  the  sunbeams,  and  which  cannot  be 
mistaken ;  and  it  points  us  to  their  commencement,  at  that  period 
when  their  chief  executive  power  has  been  committed  to  men  of  des- 
potic wills,  lawless  ambition,  profligate  manners,  and  desperate  cour- 
ase. 


I  :3ti  j 

ro  extricate  ourselves  from  the  evils  of  a  hereditary  monarchv- 
which  might  impose  on  us  in  the  line  of  descent,  a  weak  or  un- 
principled despot,  the  blood  and  treasures  of  our  illustrious  an- 
cestors have  been  expended  ;  but  are  those  evils  more  tolerable,  or 
less  to  be  depricated,  when  by  our  free  suffrages  we  inflict  them 
on  ourselves  ?  Does  the  right  of  suffrage  give  impunity  to  the 
errors  or  vices  of  freemen  ?  If  the  rights  of  the  people  are  to  be 
invaded  with  impunity  ;  if  our  liberties  are  to  perish  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  a  military  despot ;  is  it  a  privilege  of  which  free- 
men should  boast,  and  in  which  they  ought  to  exult,  that  they 
have  the  right  of  choosing  the  men  who  are  to  be  the  instruments 
of  their  ruin  ?  It  is  a  truth  which  cannot  be  concealed  from  an 
impartial  world,  that  the  history  of  the  British  monarchy,  for  the 
last  three  hundred  years,  has  not  recorded  a  character  among 
those  who  have  inherited  the  sovereign  power,  so  despotic  in  his 
principles,  or  abandoned  to  his  vices,  as  that  man,  whom  the  peo- 
ple are  invited  to  elevate  to  the  chief  magistracy. 

Had  we  the  misfortune  to  have  lived  under  an  hereditary  monar- 
chy, and  the  Great  Disposer  of  human  events,  should,  in  his  wrath, 
have  imposed  on  us  such  a  sovereign  as  Andrew  Jackson,  in  the 
line  of  descent,  it  would  have  been  considered  a  national  calami- 
ty. No  faction  would  then  be  created,  to  conceal  his  vices  and 
liis  errors,  by  the  proclamation  of  his  popularity  ;  and  as  he  would 
have  depended  on  no  one  for  his  elevation,  none  could  calculate 
on  his  patronage.  But  the  case  is  otherwise  ;  we  live  in  a  free 
republic,  and  the  people  are  not  doomed,  by  their  constitution,  to 
consign  their  liberties  to  the  administration  of  an  unprincipled  ty- 
rant. And  unless  they  suffer  themselves  to  be  deceived,  through 
inattention  to  the  characters  of  the  different  candidates,  it  is  be^ 
lieved  they  will  not  do  it. 

The  question  respecting  a  presidential  election,  should  not  be 
affected  by  geographical  discriminations  or  sectional  interests. 
Whatever  may  be  the  views  of  aspiring  partizans,  attached  to 
different  candidates,  it  is  believed  the  great  mass  of  our  popula- 
tion would  discard  the  little  policy  of  any  chief  magistrate,  which 
should  tend  to  encourage  the  pursuits  of  one  part  of  the  common- 
wealth at  the  expense  of  the  other.  There  may  be  individuals 
influenced  in  their  political  conduct  by  local  attachments,  and 
prejudices,  and  interests  ;  yet  it  is  hoped  the  major  part  of  our 
citizens  will  never  disregard  the  vast  importance  of  an  inviolable 
and  perpetual  union  of  the  states,  which  never  can  be  maintained 
by  any  other  than  a  policy  both  equal  and  just  in  its  operation. 

It  is  of  no  consequence  to  the  people  whether  the  President  is 
a  native  citizen  of  the  northern  or  southern  section  of  the  United 
States,  or  from  what  stock  of  ancestors  he  has  descended  ;  Dcitlier 
is  it  of  importance  to  know  whether  he  has  heretofore  approved 
or  opposed  certain  measures  of  the  administration,  contrary  to 
the  views  of  other  eminent  statesmen  ;  the  wisdom  of  political 
measures  cannot  always  be  attested,  but  by  a  long  course  of  ex- 
periejice  ;  the  great  question  which  should  decide  the  choice  of 


liiat  olUcer,  relates  entirely  to  his  charaGteT.  If  lie  has  proved  to 
the  people  by  his  general  deportment  that  he  is  governed  by  the 
principles  of  a  pure  morality  ;  and  that  by  his  pubhc  conduct  he 
has  evinced  a  sacred  regard  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  his 
country  ;  and  a  capacity  equal,  if  not  superior  to  any  other  indi- 
vidual ;  every  motive  which  should  influence  the  choice  of  a  wise 
people,  urge  them  to  re-elect  the  man  who  possesses  such  qualifi- 
cations. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  adduce  evidence  that  such  is  the  charac- 
ler  of  John  Quincy  Adams.  The  proofs  are  already  before  the 
world,  and  cannot  be  discredited.  For  nearly  forty  years  he  has 
stood  the  landmark  of  his  country's  wisdom,  "  a  mental  Pyramid," 
whose  base  the  storms  of  faction  and  passion  could  not  move. 
And  it  will  not  be  forgotten,  that  unwearied  and  desperate  as  have 
been  the  efforts  of  his  opponents,  they  have  not  been  able  to  con- 
firm against  him  a  single  charge  either  of  incapacity  or  derilection 
of  duty  ;  or  to  trace  to  the  source  of  his  administration  any  one 
political  evil  or  misfortune.  And  yet  we  are  insultingly  told  that 
the  public  good  requires  that  the  office  which  he  holds  should  be  fill- 
ed by  Andrew  Jackson  ;  a  man  who  has  been  proved  before  the  pub- 
lic to  have  committed  more  errors,  and  vices,  and  crimes,  than 
any  other  man  in  the  United  States,  whose  character  has  gained 
equal  publicity.  A  man  who  in  private  life,  has  exhibited  the 
deformity  and  the  danger  of  the  human  disposition  when  uninflu- 
enced by  either  moral  or  legal  restraints.  Who  from  his  early 
youth  has  been  habitually  engaged  in  petty  and  degrading  quarrels, 
which  under  the  delusive  guise  of  chivalric  honor,  he  has  avenged 
by  violence  on  the  lives  of  his  fellow  citizens  ;  a  man  of  so  dan- 
gerous a  disposition  that  Col.  Benton  declared  he  dared  not  risque 
his  life  in  the  same  state  with  him,  and  for  that  reason  removed 
out  of  it  ;  who  caused  the  lives  of  two  men  to  be  taken  contrary 
to  the  sentence  of  a  court  martial  instituted  by  him  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  their  trial ;  a  man,  who,  against  both  the  letter 
and  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  undertook  to  administer  martial 
law  over  the  civil  rights  of  the  people,  who  were  not  subject  to  his 
authority ;  and  under  color  of  that  law,  attempted  to  break  down 
the  liberty  of  the  press  ;  suspend  the  judicial  and  legislative  pow- 
ers of  the  government ;  and  in  violation  of  the  law  of  nations  as 
well  as  of  the  United  States,  arrested  and  imprisoned  the  French 
consul,  and  banished  all  the  French  citizens  resident  at  New  Or- 
leans, and  who  were  alien  friends,  to  a  place  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  distant  from  their  homes.  And  who,  because  Lauil- 
lier,  a  member  of  the  legislature,  and  a  respectable  and  worthy 
citizen,  published  in  a  newspaper  some  appropriate  strictures  on 
his  illegal  conduct,  ordered  him  arrested  and  put  on  trial,  as  for  a 
capital  offence,  by  a  court  martial ;  and  when  that  court  acquitted 
him,  disapproved  of  the  sentence,  and  would  not  discharg-e  him 
from  imprisonment ;  who  imprisoned  a  Jud^e  of  the  United'states 
Court  for  issuing  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  for  the  release  of 
Lauillier,  and  treated  the  process  of  the  wTit  with  contempt ;  who 


[on   j 

arrested  and  imprisoned  Mr.  Dick  for  procuring  a  writ  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  judge  ;  who  caused  two  hundred  of  the  militia  of  his 
own  state  to  be  ignominiously  punished,  six  of  them  with  death, 
acrainst  the  positive  law  of  the  land,  and  under  circumstances 
shocking  to  humanity  ;  who  under  the  false  pretence  of  public 
danger,  after  the  enemies  of  our  country  had  b(  en  vanquished 
and  left  our  shores,  subjected  to  the  penalties  of  martial  law  three 
hundred  of  our  own  citizens,  not  one  of  whom  were  amenable  for 
the  violation  of  any  law,  or  usage,  or  article  of  war  !  !  !  who  has 
wa^ed  war  against  a  neutral  power  in  violation  of  positive  instruc- 
tions ;  who  has  openly  directed  the  officers  under  his  command, 
to  disobey  the  orders  of  the  president  of  the  United  States  ;  and 
finally,  because  the  national  senate  presumed  to  inquire  into 
his  outrageous  and  disgraceful  conduct,  threatened  to  enter  into 
their  chamber  and  cut  off  their  ears  ;  and  was  prevented  from 
carrying  his  threat  into  execution,  only  by  the  patriotism  and  cou- 
rage of  Decater!  !  !  In  ihe  name  of  human  and  divine  wisdom, 
is  such  a  man  in  the  character  of  a  chief  magistrate,  to  be  imposed 
on  the  people  of  this  enlightened  and  virtuous  republic  in  the  pre- 
sent ao-e  of  the  world  I  If  he  is.  then  indeed  it  may  be  said  of  us 
that  political  delusion  has  triumphed  over  reason  and  truth.  Well 
then  might  we  exclaim,  whither  has  fled  that  stern  integrity,  that 
firm  and  disinterested  patriotism  that  once  scorned  to  win  a  short 
lived  popularity  at  the  expense  of  our  immortal  glory  ;  well  then 
may  our  once  happy  country,  destined  by  heaven  as  we  had  fondly 
hoped,  to  illustrate  the  splendid  achievem.ents  of  her  heroes,  and 
the  wisdom  of  her  sages  in  the  example  of  her  sons,  be  described 
in  the  opprobrious  language  of  the  Poet, 

Unpris'd  are  her  sons  'till  they  learn  to  betray, 
Undisting-uish'd  they  live   f  they  shame  not  their  sires 
And  the  torch  that  would  light  tiiem  to  dignity's  way 
Must  be  caught  from  the  pile  where  their  country  expires. 

If  our  republic  is  to  be  saved  from  the  disgrace  and  ruin  with 
which  it  is  threatened,  you  must  be  persuaded,  my  fellow  citizens, 
bv  the  veneration  which  you  owe  to  the  constitution  achieved  by 
valor  and  cemented  by  the  purest  blood  of  patriotism  ;  by  your 
reverence  for  the  holy  relics  of  the  heroes,  the  sages,  and  mar- 
tyrs of  our  history  ;  by  your  attachment  to  the  laws,  and  your 
veneration  for  that  Eternal  Power  on  \diose  divine  commandments 
they  are  founded  ;  and  as  in  the  presence  of  your  God,  and  under 
that  awful  influence  imposed  by  the  late  of  unborn  millions  of 
posterity  ;  to  oppose  by  all  lawful  means,  the  election  of  Andrew 
Jackson  to  the  Presidency. 

A  volume  could  not  contain  a  description  of  the  various  and 
fatal  evils  we  might  expect  would  inevitably  result  from  an  admi- 
nistration over  which  he  should  preside.  If  our  republic  must 
fall,  as  it  probably  would,  and  that  very  soon,  if  committed  to  the 
administration  of  that  man  and  his  political  advocates,  it  is  hoped 
our  honest  and  intelligent  citizens  will  cling  to  it  while  it  has  life 


r 

ill  it,  and  even  longer  than  there  is  hope  ;  let.  them  be  auxiliary 
to  its  virtues  ;  and  if  death  must  be  its  fate,  let  them  exhaust  the 
last  power  of  mtellect,  that  they  may  protract  its  dying  nature, 
and  from  its  expiring  convulsions  snatch  the  spirit  of'liberty,  and' 
render  its  reign  on  earth  immortal. 

•  The  assertion  which  is  too  often  made  that  there  is  no  difference 
in  the  moral  characters  of  men  is  absurd  and  dangerous.  Al- 
though it  should  be  admitted,  that  all  men  are  equally  actuated 
by  motives  of  personal  interest,  yet  universal  observation  proves, 
that  tne  conduct  of  men  in  pursuit  of  the  same  object,  is  widely 
different.  .  While  one  scrupulously  resolves  to  make  his  interest 
coincide  with  his  duty  to  his  fellow  citizens  and  his  country,  we 
see  others  in  pursuit  of  the  same  object,  obviously  disregard  every 
obligation  imposed  by  either  moral  or  legal  restraints. 

The  world  has  been  ransacked  in  vain  to  find  causes  of  accusa-. 
tion  against  the  public  or  private  character  of  President  Adams, 
and  because  his  enemies  can  find  none,  they  pronounce  him  a 
cunning,  designing  man,  and  {hypocrite.  But  when  Andrew 
Jackson  has  without  shame,  and  apparently  without  remorse,  vio- 
lated the  sacred  obligations  which  should  "bind  together  society, 
and  rendered  hii)*self  a  dangerous  man  even  in  private  life,  and 
under  the  color  of  a  httle  brief  mihtary  power,  set  at  defiance 
every  principle  on  which  the  superstructure  of  our  republic  is 
founded,  and  violated  even  the  laws  of  humanity,  \yhich  should 
distinguish  the  civil  from  the  savage  state  ;  he  is  pronounced  by 
his  political  advocates  the  more  honest  man,  and  most  worthy  of 
the  chief  magistracy.  But  whatever  may  be  the  success,  attendin<T 
the  impositions  of  a  desperate  faction,  it  cannot  change  the  etei° 
nal  laws  which  discriminate  between  the  characters  of  men. 
There  is  a  difference  between  virtue  and  vice,  between  wisdom 
and  folly  ;  there  are  such  qualities  as  patriotism,  as  the  love  of 
honour,  of  truth,  of  justice  and  humanity,  which  mark  the  con- 
duct of  different  men  and  distinguish  their  characters.  Whoever 
shall  attempt  to  ascribe  corrupt  motives  to  conduct  in  itself  praise- 
worthy, and  morality  to  mere  human  contrivance  and  pc  htical 
skill,  would  undermine  the  foundation  of  all  virtue  and  subvert 
the  order,  the  peace,  and  safety  of  society  ;  as  well  may  they 
justify  the  commission  of  every  crime,  and  the  practice  of  every 
vice,  by  ascribing  to  its  author  motives  of  benevolence,  patriotism 
and  philanthropy. 

But  such  are  some  of  the  absurd  pretensions,  by  which  the  op- 
posers  of  President  Adams  and  his  administration,  would  impose 
on  the  credulity  of  honest  freemen.  While  they  would  ascribe 
the  most  important  political  conduct  of  his  life  which  have  con- 
ferred upon  him  the  fame  of  an  illustrious  statesman  and  pure 
patriot,  to  the  arts  of  hypocrisy,  they  are  willing  to  ascribe  to 
Andrew  Jackson  motives  of  zeal  for  the  public  good,  in  justifica- 
tion of  the  most  flagrant  and  wanton  violations  of  law,  justice  and 
humanity. 

They  first  hoped  to  gain  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  their 


positive  denials  of  the  charges  against  him  ;  but  when  their  truth 
was  demonstrated  before  the  public,  by  the  records  of  his  admi- 
nistration, and  the  testimony  of  living  witnesses,  they  attempted 
to  justify  his  conduct  from  the  exigencies  of  public  danger  ;  and 
when  it  is  proved  by  comparing  even  his  own  declaration  with  the 
dates  of  events,  that  such  exigencies  did  not  exist  at  the  time, 
when  under  this  delusive  pretence,  he  was  treating  with  contempt 
the  vital  principles  of  the  constitution,  and  inflicting  the  punish- 
ment of  ignominy  and  death  on  our  own  citizens  ;  excited  by  the 
insanity  of  party  zeal,  they  are  ready  to  ascribe  all  his  errors  and 
his  vices  to  the  ardency  of  his  patriotism.  Such  are  the  absurdi- 
ties to  which  men  would  resort  in  the  madness  of  their  ambition. 
But  those  who  had  the  presumption  to  place  his  name  on  the  list 
of  candidates  for  the  Presidency,  could  never  believe  that  the  in- 
telligent freemen  of  the  United  States,  unless  under  the  influence 
of  gross  imposition,  would  ever  elevate  to  the  supreme  magistracy, 
a  man,  whose  only  passport  to  power  was  his  despotic  will,  his 
courage  and  his  sword. 


APPENDIX. 


The  reasons  stated  by  General  Jackson  for  proposing  to  tli©- 
legislature  to  suspend  the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus,  and  afterwards 
for  the  proclamation  of  martial  law,  were,  that  intimation  had  been 
privately  given,  that  some  disaffected  persons  were  to  be  found  in 
New  Orleans. 

That  there  was  any  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  such  per- 
sons there  has  been  no  proof  exhibited  to  the  public.  On  Gen. 
Jackson's  arrival  at  New  Orleans,  the  whole  population  of  that 
place  -devoted  itself  to  the  defence  of  the  country  :  a  levy  en  mass 
was  effected.  Even  the  old  men  organized  themselves  into 
companies,  and  the  ladies  employed  themselves  in  making  clothes 
for  the  militia.* 

But  take  the  testimony  of  Gen.  Jackson  himself.  In  his  letter 
to  the  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  dated  January  27,  1815,  he  says, 
**  I  pray  you,  sir,  to  communicate  to  your  respectable  city,  the  ex- 
alted sense  I  entertain  of  their  patriotism,  love  of  order,  and  at- 
tachment to  the  principles  of  our  excellent  constitution.  Seldom 
in  any  community  has  so  much  cause  been  given  for  deserved 
praise.  While  the  young  were  in  the  field  and  arresting  the  pro- 
gress of  the  foe,  the  aged  watched  over  the  city,  and  preserved  its 
internal  peace  ;  and  even  the  softer  sex  encouraged  their  husbands 
and  brothers,  to  remain  at  the  post  of  danger  and  duty." 

This  letter,  it  will  be  noticed,  was  written  nineteen  days  after 
the  celebrated  victory,  and  when  General  Jackson  must  have  had 
all  the  evidence  of  the  dangerous  disposition  of  the  citizens  of 
New  Orleans  that  he  ever  could  expect. 

*'  AH  the  inhabitants  of  Louisiana  vied  in  zeal  for  the  service  of 
their  colmtry,  and  strained  every  nerve  to  repulse  the  enemy." 

Neither  has  there  been  any  evidence  before  the  public  that  there 
was  a  traitorous  disposition  in  the  legislature,  which  could  justify 
General  Jackson  in  suspending  the  legislative  authorities. 

It  is  said  that  General  Jackson  received  a  suggestion  that  there 
was  a  panic  among  the  members  of  the  legislature,  and  a  thought 
entertained  by  them  of  a  capitulation.!  This  imputation  the 
whole  of  the  legislature  have  always  solemnly  denied.  And  their 
conduct  gives  no  color  to  such  a  charge. 

On  the  arrival  of  General  Jackson  at  New  Orleans,  the  legisla- 
ture voted  $65,000  for  new  fortifications,  and  put  $6000  in  the 

*  Sec  17th  page. 

f  Latour's  Historical  Memoirs  of  the  War  in  West  Florida  and  Louisiana. 

F 


[42] 

hands  of  Commodore  Patterson  for  the  purpose  of  hiring  additional 
seamen. 

General  Jackson,  however,  sent  an  aid  to  the  city  with  orders 
to  the  Governor  to  institute  a  Mrict  inquiry  into  this  matter  ;  and 
if  it  was  true  that  the  mi^mbers  meditated  such  a  thing,  to  blow 
them  up  into  the  air.*  The  aid,  sent  to  the  Governor,  without 
such  investigation,  introduced  an  armed  force  into  the  halls  of  the 
legislature,  and  expelled  the  members .wit'h  the  point  of  the  bayo- 
net,! and  General  Jackson  sanctioned  and  approved  the  measure. 
He  had  previous  to  this  proposed  to  the  legislature  to  suspend 
the  writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  ;  and  thus  put  the  personal  security  of 
every  man  in  the  state  except  himself,  beyond  the  reach  of  all 
protection  or  safeguard.! 

The  resolution  of  the  legislature  declining  the  adoption  of  so 
violent  a  measure,  placed  their  relusal  chiefly  on  the  ground  of 
the  apprehension  that  it  might  chill  the  enthusiasm  then  prevail- 
ing— interrupt  the  excellent  feeling  then  so  general — and  thus 
impede  the  preparations  for  defence.  This  w^as  two  weeks  before 
any  enemy  was  heard  of  in  the  neighborhood  | 

They  had  another  ground  which  should  have  satisfied  the  Gen. 
They  had  no  authority  to  suspend  that  writ.  An  authority  which 
it  is  denied  Congress  has  any  legal  power  to  exercise. 

/'The  legislature  had  continued  to  meet,  notwithstanding  their 
forcible  expulsion  from  the  HaH  by  armed  men,  arrd  the  establish- 
ment of  military  government  in  the  city.  Indeed  the  performance 
of  their  functions  was  necessary,  for  the  purpose  of  voting  assist- 
ance to  the  sick,  wounded  and  destitute,  among  the  militia." 

A  large  number  of  the  citizens  in  offering  their  services  as  vo- 
lunteer soldiers,  desired  to  stipulate  that  they  might  not  be  sent 
away  from  the  state  ;  to  which  General  Jackson  had  returned  a 
refusal  of  their  ofler  ;  telling  them  that  soldiers  who  entered  the 
ranks  must  forget  the  habits  of  social  life,  and  be  willing  to  go 
wherever  duty  and  danger  called  them.  Such  were  the  kind  of 
troops  he  wanted  and  none  other  would  he  have."  The  citizens 
of  Louisiana  were  much  disappointed  and  surprised  by  this  refusal. 
They  desired  to  expose  their  lives  in  defence  of  New  Orleans,  but 
"were  not  willing  to  be  sent  to  Florida,  or  against  the  Indians  on 
distant  campaigns,  as  regular  enlisted  soldiers,  with  a  General 
who  was  known  to  regard  his  own  view  of  the  occasion  for  their 
farther  service,  as  the  only  boundary  to  the  extent  of  their  tour  of 
duty  ;  and  to  contemn  the  militia  laws  as  affording  only  subjects 
for  ill  timed  quibbles. 

The  refusal  of  the  volunteers  to  subject  themselves  to  be  march- 
ed elsewhere  as  soldiers,  and  for  an  unlimited  time,  did  not  pre- 
Tent  their  active  co-operation  in  the  defence  of  Louisiana. 

His  biographer,  General  Eaton  records ^  that  during  the  whole 
of  the  Indian  war,  of  1813  and  1814,  there  was  a  perpetual  effort 

*  Eaton's  Life,  305-  t  Latour's  Historical  Memoirs, 

t  The  Committee  reported  against  the  propoftttion  on  the  16th — the  landiiig  of 
tlTe  British  was  on  the  23rd. 


[  43  J 

on  the  part  of  General  Jackson,  to  compel  the  militia  to  serve 
longer  than  they  were  bound  to  do  by  the  law.  That  those  who 
persisted  in  and  exercised  their  undeniable  right:  to  return  after  a. 
faithful  service  to  theij;  families,  were  branded  by  him  with  the 
name  of  deserters.','*  And  that  he  caused  a  lieutenant,  who  had 
served  his  teem  fully  to  its  end,  and  was  returning  to  his  home,  to 
be  imprisoned,  after  having  presented  a  pistol  to  the  young  man's 
breast  and  compelled  him  to  choose  between  death  and  submis- 
sion. Such  an  effect  had  these  tyrannical  proceedings  upon  the 
gallant  Tennesseeans,  that  no  entreaties  nor  force  could  prevail 
on  a  regiment  of  the  militia  to  remain  even  twenty  days  beyond 
the  legai  term  of  their  service. t 

After  the  victory  of  the  8th  of  January,  and  the  enemy  had  left 
the  country,  the  regulars,  and  chief  part  of  the  militia,  accompa- 
nied him  to  the  city  ;  a  large  portion  of  the  Kentucky  and  Louisi- 
ana men  were  ordered  to*"  remain  in  the  mud  on  the  plantations. 
These  militia  were  detained  in  their  wet  and  sickly  encampment 
long  after  all  possibility  of  a  new  invasion  had  passed  away ;  not 
until  the  13th  of  March  were  the  Kentuckians  allowed  to  leave 
the  field.  The  unhealthiness  of  a  constantly  wet  soil,  caused 
them  to  contract  pernicious  fevers  and  dysenteries,  which  soon 
became  epidemical.  The  effect  of  these  disorders  was  speedily 
seen  and  terribly  felt — in  the  space  of  one  month  five  hundred  of 
them  were  sacrificed  in  this  unfeeling  manner.  The  shocking 
mortality  among  the  drafted  militia,  still  without  any  apparent 
necessity,  encamped  on  the  wet  soil  of  a  plantation,  excited  much 
disconent.  These  regiments  were  composed  in  a  great  measure 
of  French  natives  residents  of  New  Orleans. |  And  their  friends 
were  particularly  dissatisfied  with  what  they  considered  this  need- 
less and  cruel  exposure  of  their  lives.  The  murmurs  thus  excited 
provoked  General  Jackson  into  a  new  measure  of  severity,  in  an 
order  banishing  all  the  French  inhabitants  to  a  distance  of  120 
miles,  noticed  in  a  preceding  page.  The  class  of  people  on 
whom  this  heavy  sentence  fell,  comprised  a  large  portion  of  the 
combati  nts  in  the  battles  of  the  23d  of  December  and  8th  of 
January.  The  gallantry  with  which  they  had  behaved,  had  been 
emphatically  declared  by  the  General  himself.§  If  there  was  still 
danger  of  a  renewed  invasion — two  weeks  after  the  official  news 
of  the  signing  of  peace — New  Orleans  was  by  this  order  to  be 
deprived  of  an  efficient  portion  of  its  defenders — if  no  further 
occasion  for  their  services  were  apprehended,  the  prolonged  de- 
tention of  their  compatriots  in  the  pestilential  fields  was.  without 
excuse,  and  a  just  cause  of  murmur. 

These  facts  have  been  adduced  to  shoxv  that  the  disaffection 
among  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans,  and  the  mutiiious  disposition 
as  he  would  term  them,  and  which  furnished  his  justification  for 

^Eaton'sLifCvp.  102  f  Ibid,  p.  119; 

^  Owners  of  the  soil,  nien  who  Uad  families  anxiouslv  coiicerued  for  their  safetV', 
and  whose  happiness  depended  on  their  return.     Katon   p.  272. 
^  In  his  address  to  the  Mayor  of  New  Orleans,  January  2f,  1815. 


[  44  j 

proclaiming  martial  law,  and  the  abuses  he  practiced  in  the  admi- 
nistration of  it,  originated  from  his  despotic  and  unreasonable 
measures.  And  that  whatever  of  an  unfriendly  disposition  might 
be  discoverable  against  him,  in  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged, 
among  the  members  of  the  legislature,  was  attributable  entirely 
to  his  usurpation,  and  unprecedented,  and  wanton  interference 
with  their  civil  rights  by  violence. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1815,  they  passed  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
the  brave  citizen  soldiers,,  the  subaltern  officers,  and  the  Generals  ; 
omitting  all  notice  of  General  Jackson.  Latour,  205.  These 
resolutions  were  communicated  by  the  Governor  to  Gei|erals . 
Thpmas,  Adair,  Carroll  and  Col.  Hinds,  of  the  Kentucky,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Mississippi  militia. 

The  legislature  did  not  act  without  provocation  in  this  mark  of 
disrespect.  The  insult  they  received  in  being  violently  expelled 
from  their  Hall,  and  the  insinuations  made  against  the  patriotism 
of  their  citizens,  in  the  General  Orders  declaring  martial  law — in- 
sinuations which  no  one  else  had  uttered — which  had  been  amply 
refuted  by  the  good  conduct  of  the  whole  population,  and  yet  had 
not  been  withdrawn,  seemed  to  them  to  require  apology  and  ex- 
planation. They  were  displeased  with  the  ill-timed  introduction 
of  the  press  gang  system,  when  all  were  so  willing  to  serve  with- 
out being  pressed.  They  thought  such  a  severity  calculated  only  to 
create  the  disaffection  which  they  did  not  believe  existed  at  the 
time  of  General  Jackson's  asserting  it.  They  disapproved  of 
the  injustice  of  keeping  their  citizens  of  the  drafted  militia — the 
householders  of  New  Orleans — still  in  a  sickly  camp,  when  the 
"  more  hardy  regulars  were  allowed  to  lounge  idly  in  the  streets  and 
taverns  of  New  Orleans.  They  disliked  also  the  crowning  and 
other  excessive  honors  paid  to  and  accepted  by  General  Jackson, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  others,  as  if  he  alone  deserved  praise,  and 
the  gallant  Coffee,  Adair,  Carroll,  &c.  merited  no  compliment. 
They  wished  to  show  especially  their  sense  of  the  merits  of  those 
officers  and  their  troops,  to  whom  there  had  been  yet  no  honors  or 
acknowledgments  awarded." 

It  appears  then  that  the  disaffection  of  the  legislature  of  Loui- 
siana was  pointed  against  the  character  and  conduct  of  General 
Jackson,  and  not  against  the  war. 

But  aside  from  his  administration  of  martial  law  at  New  Orleans, 
there  are  many  other  acts  of  his  public  life,  ^v1lich  evince  equally 
his  contempt  of  the  laws  as  well  as  his  want  of  either  talents  or 
knowledge  as  a  civilians,  or  statesman. 

"The  history  of  his  conduct  in  the  forcible  seizure  of  Florida, 
a  neutral  country,  will  show  there  was  not  the  shadow  of  neces- 
sity for  this  violent  attack  upon  a  friendly  power.  But  there  arc 
some  facts  connected  with  this  transaction,  and  the  capture  of 
Pensacola,  which  may  explain  the  motives  of  his  conduct.  It  was 
in  evidence,  before  the  Committee  of  the  Senate,  that  in  the  fall 
of  1817,  several  gentlemen  of  Nashville,  (among   whom  were 


John  Donnelsou,  the  nephew  of  the  General,  and  John  H.  Eaton, 
his  biographer,)  formed  a  company,  to  speculate  in  lots  and 
lands  in  Pensacoia.  Mr.  Donnelson,  as  their  agent,  went  on,  with 
authority  to  make  purchases  to  an  amount  not  exceeding  ^ lb, 000, 
and  succeeded  to  his  wishes.  Mr.  Liaton,  in  his  testimony,  says, 
that  his  inducements  to  make  this  adventure,  was,  that  he  believed 
the  country  would  ultimately  belong  to  the  United  States." 

It  is  a  singular  coincidence,  considering  the  intimate  relation 
between  the  parties,  that  the  speculation  is  hardly  secured  by 
deed,  until  General  Jackson  advances  with  an  American  army — 
invades  the  country — seizes  the  forts — occupies  Pensacoia — and 
then  endeavors  by  influence  and  arguments,  to  induce  his  govern- 
ment so  retain  the  conquest,  at  the  expense  of  justice,  right,  and 
tranquillity.  The  people  will  judge  how  far  the  General  was  con- 
cerned in  this  adventure. 

We  will  now  examine  some  of  the  acts  of  Gen.  Jackson  as  a  civil 
magistrate,  and  we  shall  see  that  the  same  overbearing  violence 
of  temper,  the  same  self-willed,  despotic  exercise  of  power,  have 
been  manifested  m  his  public  conduct.  Upon  the  cession  of  Flo- 
rida to  the  United  States,  Gen  Jackson  was  appointed  governor 
of  that  territory.  His  own  view  of  the  arbitrary  authority  vested 
in  him,  appears  from  his  letter  to  Captain  Bell,  dated  August  13, 
1821.  In  which  he  says,  "I  despatched  an  express  on  to  you 
with  sundry  ordinances,  which  I  found  it  necess9,ry  to  adopt  for 
the  better  organization  of  the  Floridas."  The  constitution  of 
Spain,  providing  for  the  trial  by  jury  in  criminal  cases,  although 
never  extended  to  the  colonies,  because  the  treaty  ceding  the 
Floridas  was  concluded  before  the  constitution  was  adopted,  &-c, 
in  Spain."  Here  is  a  most  extraordinary  declaration  from  the 
republican  Governor  of  a  ceded  territory,  which-it  was  intended 
might  hereafter  become  a  member  5f  our  Union.  The  trial  by 
jury,  the  freeman's  dearest  right,  is  not  to  be  allowed,  because 
the  country  was  ceded,  before  Spaniards  had  obtained  that  priv> 
lege  under  the  new  constitution  ;  and  the  rights  of  the  people 
were  to  be  determined  and  regulated  by  the  "  ordinances"  of  the 
Governor — that  is  by  the  simple  declaration  of  his  will.  Thus 
the  condition  of  Florida  was  to  be  improved  by  substituting  his 
will  for  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  and  we  shall  lind  the  Governor 
acted  under  this  impression.  In  a  former  letter  to  Captain  Bell,  . 
he  had  said,  "  the  Spanish  laws  and  usage-*  are  in  force  :"  his 
ordinances  were  to  declare  what  the  Spanish  laws  were,  and 
afterwards  in  the  letter  last  referred  to,  he  adds,  "  The  Judge 
(appointed  by  the  President,)  can  exercise  no  other  power,  (ex- 
cept so  far  as  relates  to  carrying  into  effect  the  acts  extended 
over  the  Floridas,)  unless  specially  given  him  by  the  President. 
Such  instructions  have  not  been  given,  and  I  doubt  very  much, 
whether  the  President  could  give  them.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  person  exercising  the  power  of  the  Governor  of  East  Florida, 
can  exercise  all  the  powers  exercised  under  the  King  of  Spain,  at 
the  time  the  country  was  ceded."     This  power  we  know  was  arbi- 


i 


/ 


[  4t;  j 

^rary  and  despotic.  Spain  had  not  reformed  her  constitution  af. 
the  time,  and  hence  as  the  General  argues,  the  pieople  of  Florida 
could  not  have  ihe  benefit  of  tJie  trial  by  jury  in  criminal  cases. 
This  assumption  of  regal  prerogative  is  left  to  the  consideration 
of  those  who  admire  the  republican  princ  pies  of  Gen.  Jackson. 

Let  us  proceed  to  his  practical  illustration  of  his  powers  By 
tliQ  treaty  of  cession,  all  the  archieves  and  documents  relating  to 
the  "  property  and  sovereignty  of  the  country,"  were  to  be  given 
up.  The  General  undertook  to  interpret  this,  as  including  papers 
relative  to  private  property  ;  and  a  complaint  having  been  made 
that  some  such  were  in  the  possession  i)f  the  late  Spanisii  Gover- 
nor Callava,  an  order  was  issued  that  he  should  deliver  them 
forthwith.  They  were  refused,  and  instead  of  sending  a  civil  offi- 
cer with  process,  General  .*ackson  issued  to  Colonel  Brooke  the 
followmo  military  requisition  :  "  You  will  furnish  an  officer,  ser- 
geant, corporal,  and  twenty  men,  and  direct  the  officer  to  call  on 
me  by  half  past  eight  o'clock  for  orders.  They  will  have  their 
arms  and  accoutrements  complete,  with  twelve  rounds  of  ammu- 
mti^^n."  This  was  accordingly  doiie,  and  Lieutenant  Mountz, 
officer  of  the  guard,  "  was  directed  to  take  Colonel  Callava  into 
custody,  &c."  They  found  him  at  his  house  on  the  bed,  and  he 
complained  of  being  too  ill  to  go  with  them  ;  but  as  Messrs.  But- 
ler and  Bronaugh  reported  to  his  excellency,  "  he  seemed  to  act 
without  much  difficulty  svhen  the  guard  was  ordered  to  prime  and 
load," — the  defenceless  dignitary  was  thus  dragged  by  military 
force  before  Governor  Jackson,  and  finally  committed  to  prison  : 
in  the  mean  time  his  house  was  entered  by  order  ;  boxes  were 
broken  open,  and  paper>  taken  out.  But  we  have  not  given  you 
the  whole  case.  .  Judcre  Fromentin,  who  had  been  commissioned 
by  the  President,  judicial  o^cer  of  the  territory,  w^as  applied  to 
by  the  friends  of  Colonel  Callava,  for  a  habeas  corpus.  Suppos- 
ing that  the  country  ceded  to  the  United  States,  should  share  in 
some  degree,  the  benignity  of  a  free  government,  he  allowed  the 
writ.  General  Jackson  whem  informed  of  it  directed  Captain 
Wager  to  inform  Mr.  Fromentin  that  the  prisoners  would  he  kept 
confined  until  released  by  his  orders  ;  and  at  the  same  time  issued 
his  precept  to  bring  the  Judge  before  him,  to  answer  for  having 
attempted  to  interfere  with  his  authority, — overwhelmed  by  arbi- 
trary power, — brow  beaten  and  insulted,  the  Judge  was  compelled 
to  yield  his  official  dignity  and  his  personal  independence. 

/J'his  was  for  having  dared  as  the  General  says,  to  issue  a 
habeas  corpus.  But  to  cap  the  climax  of  tyranny,  the  Spanish 
officers,  President  at  Pensacola  for  many  years,  and  owning  large 
property,)  were  ordered  by  proclamation,  dated  29th  of  Septem- 
ber, to  leave  thr  country  in  four  days,-'  Their  offence  was  the 
publication,  in  a  newspaper,  of  a  paragr^gh.  questioning  the  ac- 
curacy of  the  interpreter^who  b#d^ssisted:flt  the  examination  of 
Colonel  Callava  ;  and  two  of  these  gentlemen  ventured  to  return 
in  some  sjiort  time  to  look  afler  their  affairs,  and  in  pursuance  of 
the  Governor's  order,  were  arrested  and  conlined  in  prison.  For- 
tunately for  them  (as  no  habeas  corpus  could  bring  relief.")  Gen. 


L  ^^  J 

Jackson  resigned,  and  the  case  having  been  communicated  to  the 
President,  he  at  once  directed  their  discharge,  after  a  confinement  of 
more  than  three  months  and  a  half.  By  this  sketch  of  his  a<iminis- 
tration  in  Florida,  as  a  civil  magistrate,  his  advocates  cannot  urge  in 
his  defence  that  he  was  mipelled  by  necessity,  or  the  exigencies  of" 
public  danger,  but  by  the  same  ungovernable  disposition  to  make  his 
own  despotic  will  the  rule  of  his  actions,  which  has  directed  his  con- 
duct in  every  situation  wherein  he  has  been  entrusted  with  power. 

It  will  be  seen  in  the  above  statement,  that  his  egregious  blunder 
in  the  construction  of  the  treaty  of  cession,  by  interpreting  the  archives 
and  documents  relating  to  the  property  or  sovereignty  of  the  country _^ 
as  intending  papers  relative  to  private  property,  led  him  to  those 
outrageous  violations  of  the  rights  of  Colonel  Callava,  Judge  Fro 
mentin,  and  the  Spanish  officers. 

His  invasion  of  Florida  v/as  without  authority,  and  in  violation  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  orders  of  the  President.  In  the  year  1818, 
some  acts  of  violence  were  committed  on  the  borders  of  Georgia  by 
the  Seminole  Indians.  General  Jackson  was  ordered  to  make  a  re- 
quisition on  the  Governor  of  Teiuiessee  for  a  militia  force  hi  aid  of 
the  Georgia  militia "  already  called  out,  for  the  purpose  of  restoring 
order,  lie  disobeyed  the  orders,  preferring  to  raise  volunteers  to 
"whom  he  could  appoint  officers,  and  collected  a  force  of  2500  men 
without  authority,  whom  he  organized  by  appointing  officers,  and 
then  led  them  into  Florida  to  captiire  the  Spanish  posts. 

The  merits  of  this  expedition  into  Florida  became  the  subject  ©f 
warm  discussion  in  Congress ;  and  in  each  house  a  report  was  ma«Ie 
by  a  committee,  censuring  the  General's  proceedings.  In  the  House 
of  Representatives,  the  committee  founded  their  censure  on  thejunine- 
cessary  putting  to  death  of  the  prisoners  after  the  war  was  closed- — 
the  irreaularity  of  their  trial-^the  unfairness  of  refusing  them  benefit 
of  theyvidence  they  desired — the  erroneous  principles  of  national  hiw 
advanced — and  the  execution  of  one  against  the  opinion  of  the  coijirt. 
In  the  Senate,  the  committee  reported  very  much  in  detail,  and  in 
very  strong  terms  of  censure.  '^  It  is  with  regret  the  committee  sptidj. 
they  were  compelled  to  declare,  that  General  Jdckson  has  disregarded 
the  positive  orders  of  the  department  of  war,  the  constitution,  and  the 
laws."  '*  Tfie  committee  find  the  melancholy  fact  before  them,  that  at 
this  early  stage  of  the  republic,  military  officers  have,  without  the 
shadow  of  authority,  raised  an  army  of  at  least  2500  men,  and  mus- 
tered them  into  the  service  of  the  United  States.  Two  hundred  and 
thirty  officers  have  been  appointed,  and  their  rank  established,  from 
an  Indian  brigadier-general,  to  the  lowest  subaltei'n  of  a  company. 
To  whom  were  these  officers  accountable  for  their  conduct  ?  Not  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  For  it  was  not  considered  neces- 
sary even  to  furnish  him  with  a  list  of  their  names  ;  and  not  until  the 
pay  was  demanded,  were  the  persons  known  to  the  department  of 
war  " 

The  session  of  Congress  to  which  this  committee  reported,  passed 
by  without  any  decisive  vote  on  the  subject. 

Nile's  Register,  Vol.  XV.  p.  305. 


[-4S  j 

The  unfortunate  dilemma  in  which  the  government  was  placed,  bv 
General  Jackson's  illegal  and  disgraceful  conduct,  has  been  noticed 
in  a  preceding  page.* 

A  detail  of  all  the  public  acts  of  his  life  wliich  would  only  add  to 
the  proofs  already  adduced,  of  his  tyrannical  and  dangerous  disposi- 
tion, or  his  profound  ignorance  of  the  construction  and  legal  inter- 
pretation of  the  laws,  might  swell  this  short  address  to  a  large 
volume. 

It  cannot  be  possible  that  a  man  whose  whole  course  of  public 
conduct  has  been  marked  by  violence,  usurpation,  and  tyranny,  will 
by  the  enlightened  and  virtuous  freemen  of  the  United  States,  be 
chosen,  to  preside  over  the  destinies  of  the  only  free  republic  on  the 
globe. 

^  Seepage  15. 


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